Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a rare vasculitis in childhood and poor information is known about its long-term outcome. Our aim was to describe the clinical features, at onset and during the disease ...course, of childhood-onset PAN and identify a potential correlation with persistent organ damage and worse outcome in a cohort of paediatric patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PAN.
A retrospective collection of demographic and clinical data of 52 Caucasian children diagnosed with PAN, fulfilling the EULAR/PRES diagnostic criteria, recruited from eight paediatric rheumatologic centres and one transition unit, was performed. A statistical correlation was made between clinical involvement at onset or during the overall disease course and patients' final outcome.
Data from 52 patients (31 males, 21 females) were collected: their mean age at onset was 7.9 years (median 6.3) and mean follow-up period was 6.2 years (median 5.4). At the last follow-up visit, 27 patients (51.9%) were off therapy in clinical remission, 17 (32.7%) were in clinical remission while on medication, and 6 (11.6%) had a persistent or relapsing disease course. Two patients (3.8%) deceased because of severe cerebral involvement. Cranial nerve palsy during the disease course was significantly correlated with a worse prognosis (p=0.011). The presence of nephrogenic hypertension at onset and seizures during the disease course were significantly associated with the development of irreversible organ damage (p= 0.040 and 0.011, respectively).
Childhood PAN is a severe disease with substantial risk of long-term morbidities. In our cohort of patients the worst outcome was significantly correlated with renal and neurological involvement.
The Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report (JAMAR) is a new parent/patient reported outcome measure that enables a thorough assessment of the disease status in children with juvenile ...idiopathic arthritis (JIA). We report the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the parent and patient versions of the JAMAR in the Italian language.
The reading comprehension of the questionnaire was tested in 10 JIA parents and patients. Each participating centre was asked to collect demographic, clinical data and the JAMAR in 100 consecutive JIA patients or all consecutive patients seen in a 6-month period and to administer the JAMAR to 100 healthy children and their parents.
The statistical validation phase explored descriptive statistics and the psychometric issues of the JAMAR: the 3 Likert assumptions, floor/ceiling effects, internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha, interscale correlations, test–retest reliability, and construct validity (convergent and discriminant validity).
A total of 1296 JIA patients (7.2% systemic, 59.5% oligoarticular, 21.4% RF negative polyarthritis, 11.9% other categories) and 100 healthy children, were enrolled in 18 centres. The JAMAR components discriminated well healthy subjects from JIA patients except for the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) Psychosocial Health (PsH) subscales. All JAMAR components revealed good psychometric performances.
In conclusion, the Italian version of the JAMAR is a valid tool for the assessment of children with JIA and is suitable for use both in routine clinical practice and clinical research.
A retrospective multi-center data collection of clinical, laboratory, and treatment characteristics of 94 Caucasian children and adolescents with Raynaud’s phenomenon (RP) started at a mean age of ...12.8 ± 5 years, with variable involvement of hands, feet, and face, was performed for a period of 3 years. Collected data included nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), lung function tests, and different laboratory tests finalized to characterize an eventual connective tissue disease (CTD), disclosed by RP itself. Twelve patients presented an early-scleroderma pattern at NVC, 1 a late-scleroderma pattern, and 58 a nonspecific pattern. Laboratory data results showed the positivity of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) in 29 % of patients. After this 3-year period of observation, 8 patients had developed a CTD. Our data examined by multivariate analysis, though limited to a multi-center cohort of pediatric patients with RP, strongly suggest that ANA positivity is a significant predictor of progression of RP towards a CTD.
To compare the demographic features, presenting manifestations, diagnostic investigations, disease course, and drug therapies of children with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) followed in Europe and ...Latin America.
Patients were inception cohorts seen between 1980 and 2004 in 27 paediatric rheumatology centres. The following information was collected through the review of patient charts: sex; age at disease onset; date of disease onset and diagnosis; onset type; presenting clinical features; diagnostic investigations; course type; and medications received during disease course.
Four hundred and ninety patients (65.5% females, mean onset age 7.0 years, mean disease duration 7.7 years) were included. Disease presentation was acute or insidious in 57.1% and 42.9% of the patients, respectively. The course type was monophasic in 41.3% of patients and chronic polycyclic or continuous in 58.6% of patients. The more common presenting manifestations were muscle weakness (84.9%), Gottron's papules (72.9%), heliotrope rash (62%), and malar rash (56.7%). Overall, the demographic and clinical features of the 2 continental cohorts were comparable. European patients received more frequently high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone, cyclosporine, cyclophosphamide, and azathioprine, while methotrexate and antimalarials medications were used more commonly by Latin American physicians.
The demographic and clinical characteristics of JDM are similar in European and Latin American patients. We found, however, several differences in the use of medications between European and Latin American paediatric rheumatologists.
To investigate the rate of radiographic progression, as measured with the carpo-metacarpal ratio (Poznanski score), during etanercept (ETN) therapy in children with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic ...arthritis (JIA).
Patients included in the Italian ETN registry who had a standard radiograph of both hands and wrists in the posteroanterior view made at start of treatment and after 1 year were included in the study. The clinical response was assessed by means of the ACR Pediatric definition of improvement. Radiographic progression was determined by calculating the change in the Poznanski score between the baseline and the 1-year radiographs.
A total of 40 patients were studied. The frequency of ACR pediatric 30, 50, and 70 response at 1 year was 77%, 72%, and 50%, respectively. The median change in the Poznanski score between baseline and 1 year was + 0.3 units, meaning that, on average, patients experienced improvement in radiographic progression.
Our pilot study provides evidence that ETN is potentially capable of reducing the progression of radiographic joint damage in JIA. This finding deserves confirmation in a controlled trial.
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