Ankylosing Spondylitis Epidemiology And Prognosis Essays Example

Ankylosing spondylitis disease causes inflammation in the human spine, through vertebrae contraction thus making the spine inflexible. According to the statistics, the disease affects more men than women, whereby, men are 2 to 5 times affected than women. The disease affects people at the peak ages. The study shows that people between the ages of fifteen years to 35 years have high chances of being affected by the disease. It is also evident that people living with the disease started developing signs and symptoms of the disease before they reach 30 years. The estimates of prevalence vary from about 0.1% to 2%. The incidence ranges from 0.5 to 14 people in a population of 100,000 persons in a year.
According to the medical prognosis, most of the patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with minor effects have the capacity to function fully and continue working. However, a small number of patients develop chronic problems that lead to life-threatening complications in their skeletons, eventually causing restrictions in movement. A questionnaire survey conducted showed that about 30 percent of the males suffering from ankylosing spondylitis (AS) had problems in performing their duties while the majority showed signs of working with no problems up to their fifties.
The following are the poor extrapolative signs; onset at young age, hip arthritis, increases of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), axial involvement, and poor reaction to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In some cases the unhealthy state occurs from peripheral joint involvement or, in some cases, patients experience extra-articular manifestations. Mortality cases rise from spinal trauma, failure in the respiratory system, aortic insufficiency, amyloid nephropathy or complications arising from therapy.