TY - JOUR T1 - Is HLA-B27 Increased in Patients Diagnosed with Undifferentiated Arthritis? Results from the Leiden Early Arthritis Cohort JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1948 LP - 1951 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.131462 VL - 41 IS - 10 AU - Floris van Gaalen AU - Rosaline van den Berg AU - Inge Verhoog AU - Joris Schonkeren AU - Annette van der Helm-van Mil AU - Tom Huizinga AU - Désirée M. van der Heijde Y1 - 2014/10/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/41/10/1948.abstract N2 - Objective. Undifferentiated arthritis (UA) is a common form of arthritis. According to the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis international Society (ASAS) criteria for peripheral spondyloarthritis (pSpA), HLA-B27 can be used to help classify patients with pSpA. We tested whether HLA-B27 is increased in patients diagnosed with UA. Methods. Prevalence of HLA-B27 was compared between healthy controls and patients with UA. SpA features were compared between HLA-B27-positive and -negative UA, and SpA. Results. We found 10.1% of UA (38/375) versus 7.2% (403/5584) of controls were HLA-B27-positive (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0–2.1; p = 0.037). HLA-B27-positive patients with UA had more SpA features than HLA-B27-negative patients (mean 1.6, SD 1.0, and 0.9 SD 0.6; p < 0.001), but patients with SpA had significantly more SpA features (mean 4.5, SD 1.5; p < 0.001). Family history and preceding infection were features more common in HLA-B27-positive than in HLA-B27-negative UA (15.8% vs 1.3%, p = 0.04 and 15.8% vs 2.6%, p = 0.04). After HLA-B27 testing, 21 additional patients (5.6%) with UA could potentially have been classified with pSpA according to the ASAS criteria. Conclusion. HLA-B27 is more common in patients with UA than in controls. However, the yield of HLA-B27 testing in UA is low. Our results suggest that HLA-B27 testing should be reserved for patients with additional SpA features. ER -