The Global Prevalence of Spondyloarthritis Save

SpA is a common disease, but with large variation in reported prevalence estimates, partly explained by differences in demographical and methodological characteristics. 

This review looked at prevalence statistics from the literature. The prevalence of SpA ranged from 0.20% in South-East Asia to 1.61% in Northern Arctic communities. The prevalence of AS ranges from 0.02% in Sub-Saharan Africa to 0.35% in Northern Arctic communities. The prevalence of PsA from 0.01% in the Middle East to 0.19% in Europe.

There are too few studies to be reliable, but prevalence estimates of reactive arthritis range from 0.0%-0.2%, SpA related to inflammatory bowel disease range from 0.0%-0.1%, and undifferentiated SpA ranges from 0.0%-0.7%.

The following characteristics were significantly associated with variation in prevalence of spondyloarthritis: proportion of females; mean age of the sample; geographic area and setting (demographical characteristics); year of data collection; case finding; and case ascertainment (methodological characteristics).