Juvenile-onset spondylitis does damage to hips

Patients with juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis have functional outcomes similar to adult-onset disease, but more often have less severe lumbar degeneration and more hip involvement requiring total hip arthroplasty, Ms. Lianne S. Gensler said in a poster session at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

Ms. Gensler and her associates compared the disease characteristics of a cohort of 53 patients with juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis (JoAS) and 349 patients with adult-onset AS (AoAS) in a multicenter, cross-sectional study.

Compared with AoAS patients, JoAS patients were significantly younger (average 50 vs. 56 years), had significantly longer duration of AS (37 vs. 31 years), and included significantly more women (40% vs. 23%), said Ms. Gensler of the University of California, San Francisco.
Although each group had similar functional outcomes, JoAS patients were 45% less likely to have severe lumbar disease than were AoAS patients. The comparison was adjusted for disease duration, gender, white race, having ever been a smoker, family history of AS, and occupational activity. But JoAS patients were more than twice as likely as AoAS patients to need total hip arthroplasty.

Reference:
Evans, J. "Juvenile-onset spondylitis does damage to hips." Family Practice News 37.8 (April 15, 2007): 38(1).