musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Prognosis for Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is characterized by mild or moderate flares of active inflammation alternating with periods of little or no inflammation. Proper treatment in most patients results in minimal or no disability and in a full, productive life despite back stiffness. Occasionally, the course is severe and progressive, resulting in pronounced incapacitating deformities. Poor prognostic factors include persistently high erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, hip involvement, poor response to NSAIDs, presence of anterior uveitis, or heart or pulmonary disease. 