PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Khader N. Mustafa AU - Mohammed Hammoudeh AU - Muhammad Asim Khan TI - HLA-B27 Prevalence in Arab Populations and Among Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis AID - 10.3899/jrheum.120403 DP - 2012 Jul 01 TA - The Journal of Rheumatology PG - jrheum.120403 4099 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2012/06/25/jrheum.120403.short 4100 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2012/06/25/jrheum.120403.full AB - Objective To investigate prevalence of HLA-B27 among general Arab populations and among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and to review published data. Methods The prevalence of HLA-B27 was studied among 2579 unrelated healthy Jordanians, almost equally divided among Palestinian refugees and natives of Jordan, reflecting the general population of Jordan. The prevalence of HLA-B27 was also studied among 129 patients with AS, 70 from Jordan, and the remaining 59 from Qatar. HLA typing was performed by standard 2-stage micro-lymphocytotoxicity method. We also reviewed published English language studies of HLA-B27 in Arab patients with AS and general populations retrieved through Medline and cross-reference search. Results We observed that the general prevalence of HLA-B27 among Jordanians is 2.4%; while the reported prevalence ranges between 2% and 5% among major Arab populations. The prevalence of HLA-B27 among patients with AS is 71% in Jordan and 73% in Qatar, while the reported prevalence from pooled published data from various Arab populations is 64%. Conclusion From these data one can conclude that HLA-B27 is present in about 2% to 5% among major Arab populations and that its prevalence in Arab patients with AS is closer to 70%.