Progression rate of ankylosing spondylitis in patients with undifferentiated spondyloarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The idea that undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (uSpA) represents the early undifferentiated stage of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and other well-defined SpA subtypes is well known. The gist of this study is to assess the rate estimate of patients with uSpA evolved to AS during long-term follow-up.

Methods

A systematic search was implemented to identify pertinent articles. The primary outcome was the rate estimate that patients with uSpA fulfilling the diagnosis of AS according to the modified New York criteria during follow-up. The rate estimate and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were pooled by the random-effects model in STATA 11.0 software. Meta-regression analyses were adopted to explore the sources of heterogeneity. The quality assessment was c

SUBMITTER: Xia Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5287968 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature