[Ankylosing hyperostosis of the spine (Forestier's disease). A study of its clinical picture based on the data from a mail questionnaire].

Postal questionnaires were used to study the incidence and intensity of complaints of the spine and peripheral skeleton in patients with ankylosing hyperostosis of the spine. Selection of persons to fill in questionnaires was carried out by means of a preliminary non-randomized analysis of the records of the spinal fluorograms in patients of one of the outpatient clinics of Moscow. Criteria for ankylosing hyperostosis of the spine were the presence of continuous ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament over a length of not less than 4 successive segments of the spine and the lack of other x-ray alterations in the given part of the spine. It has been established that as compared to the control group (n = 41) without any x-ray alteration in the thoracic part of the spine, the patients with ankylosing hyperostosis of the spine (n = 146) complained of the lumber part and shoulder joints more frequently. The incidence of complaints of other 6 out of 8 parts of the skeleton under analysis was not high in ankylosing hyperostosis of the spine.