Korean J Pediatr.  2006 Apr;49(4):424-430. 10.3345/kjp.2006.49.4.424.

Clinical observations of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. yspark@amc.seoul.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE: Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis(JRA) is one of the most common rheumatic diseases of childhood and is an important cause of short- and long-term disability. The purpose of this study was to determine the disease course and outcome in childhood patients with JRA.
METHODS
Fifty nine patients with JRA who were diagnosed and treated in the Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center from August 1990 to November 2004 were enrolled in this study. Sex, age, type, affected joints, extra-articular manifestations, laboratory and radiologic findings, treatments, and outcomes of JRA patients were reviewed retrospectively.
RESULTS
Among JRA patients, 32.2 percent had pauciarticular type, 30.5 percent had polyarticular type and 37.3 percent had systemic type. The ratio of boys to girls was 1.7:1 and the mean age at onset was 9.3+/-3.7(1.3-15.9) years. The most commonly affected joints were knee, ankle and wrist. The extra-articular manifestations observed were fever, rash, myalgia and lymph node enlargement, etc. The main laboratory findings observed were leukocytosis, anemia, thrombocytosis, elevated ESR, and elevated CRP. Rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibody(ANA) were positive in 5.3 percent and 18.0 percent. Nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAID) were used most frequently and methotrexate with or without steroids was added in 27.1 percent of patients unresponsive to NSAID. 88.1 percent of patients were cured without functional disability and only one patient was in functional status IV. One patient, who had pulmonary involvement, died.
CONCLUSION
Our results showed an even distribution in type of onset, male predominance, older age of onset, low incidence of iridocyclitis, and low positivity of ANA in JRA patients; this differs from occidental data. This study may suggest regional differences and variability in disease groups of JRA among different racies, but further multi-center trials and large scale epidemiological studies are needed to confirm our conclusion.

Keyword

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; Pauciarticular type; Polyarticular type; Systemic type

MeSH Terms

Age of Onset
Anemia
Ankle
Arthritis, Juvenile*
Chungcheongnam-do
Epidemiologic Studies
Exanthema
Female
Fever
Humans
Incidence
Iridocyclitis
Joints
Knee
Leukocytosis
Lymph Nodes
Male
Methotrexate
Myalgia
Pediatrics
Retrospective Studies
Rheumatic Diseases
Rheumatoid Factor
Steroids
Thrombocytosis
Wrist
Methotrexate
Rheumatoid Factor
Steroids
Full Text Links
  • KJP
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr