To find out the prevalence of Human Leucocyte Antigen B27 (HLA-B27) in inflammatory bowel disease patients in Jordan. Over the last year (2005) all inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients attending the gastroenterology outpatient clinic at King Hussein Medical Center (KHMC), were given a questionnaire asking them to report back pain and the characteristics of this pain. The first 60 patients to complain of inflammatory-type back pain (according to the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group Criteria); underwent a blood test to check for the presence of HLA-B27 in their blood. At the same time a comparable number of patients not suffering from IBD or any rheumatological disease, were checked for the presence of HLA-B27. Only five patients of the IBD group (4 females and 1 male) showed HLA-B27 positively. Three patients had ulcerative colitis (UC) and 2 patients had Crohn`s disease (CD). Three of the patients in IBD group had active disease and were on steroids the other two were in remission and were on aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) only. Three patients of the controlled group (all females) showed HLA-B2 positivity. Two of the patients in the IBD group were of European origin. It is concluded that HLA-B27 is no more common in IBD patients than in the general population of Jordan.