MODERN ASPECTS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ANKYLOSING SPONDYLOARTHRITIS. REVIEW.

Abstract

Relevance. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton and iliosacral
joints, which is predominantly detected in males. AS affects people of different races and geographic areas, but there is a
high disease incidence in certain populations. People suffering from AS experience not only an increased fatality rate
compared to the general population, but also a high invalidity level, which leads to a large number of disabilities. Thus, the
study of AS peculiarities is an urgent problem of modern medicine.
Aim: To identify the features of the AS epidemiology at the present stage.
Search strategy: A search for scientific publications was carried out in the following databases of scientific publications
and specialized search engines: PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Cyberleninka. Records’ number identified from
databases, publicly available on the study topic, various in the design amounted to 352. 316 publications were excluded from
the analysis according to the exclusion criteria. Only original publications were analyzed, including meta-analyses,
systematic reviews, cohort and cross-sectional studies. The initial search depth was 7 years. 36 publications were selected.
Due to the insufficient number of scientific papers and the not so significant prevalence of this disease, the group of authors
decided to increase the search depth to 15 years according to the same criteria. 71 scientific papers were selected, which
are presented in this literary review.
Results and conclusions: review revealed that the AS prevalence fluctuates in different world regions and depends on
the frequency of the HLAB27 gene presence. Literature analysis demonstrates a tendency to increase and more frequent AS
detection among the female population in recent decades. At the same time, there is a significant delay in diagnosis in
women compared to men, which leads to a significant deterioration in the quality of life due to the late start of treatment