HLA-B27 Testing in Clinical Practice: A Retrospective Analysis of Testing Indications and Rheumatology Referral Patterns.

Abstract

Objective: The human leukocyte antigen B27 (HLA-B27) allele is strongly associated with spondyloarthritis (SpA). HLA-B27 is included in SpA classification criteria and referral strategies for axial SpA. Investigations of HLA-B27 testing in usual clinical practice are limited.

Methods: We identified all adult patients tested for HLA-B27 from 1/1/2022 to 12/31/2022 in the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. We examined patient demographics, ordering provider specialty, testing indication, concurrent testing with antinuclear antibodies, rheumatoid factor, or anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide autoantibodies, and rheumatology referral. We compared the rate of rheumatology referral between HLA-B27 positive and negative patients.

Results: HLA-B27 tests were ordered for 1960 patients (62.4% female, average age 47.4 years). The most common specialties testing HLA-B27 were rheumatology (39.7%) and ophthalmology (21.4%). The most common indications for HLA-B27 testing were peripheral arthritis (33.0%), uveitis (22.0%), and back pain (16.7%). The majority of HLA-B27 tests (69.3%) were ordered concurrently with other autoantibody tests. A total of 10.9% of HLA-B27 tests were positive. Ophthalmology had the highest positive rate (15.4%) while reactive arthritis was the indication with the highest positive test rate (50%). A greater proportion of HLA-B27 positive patients were referred to rheumatology (53% vs 32%, p=0.002).

Conclusion: HLA-B27 testing was frequently performed by rheumatologists and nonrheumatologists for a broad spectrum of indications. Co-testing HLA-B27 with ANA and rheumatoid arthritis autoantibodies was common. Nearly half of HLA-B27 positive patients were not referred to rheumatology. Further efforts are needed to promote judicious use of HLA-B27 testing and optimize referral pathways to rheumatology.