JRA Patients (jra + patient)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Advanced dental maturity in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ORAL SCIENCES, Issue 3 2000
Arto Lehtinen
The subjects of the investigation comprised 95 girls and 73 boys with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), and 102 girls and 66 boys representing healthy controls, all with a chronological age from 6.3 to 14.4 yr. The dental development was assessed from panoramic radiographs using a seven-tooth model. The radiographs were evaluated on three separate occasions with a minimum interval of one month in a randomized order, and blind with respect to absence or presence of JRA. In both JRA patients and healthy controls, dental maturity was ahead of chronological age. In addition, dental maturity was significantly advanced in JRA patients with 0.26 yr in girls and 0.28 yr in boys. It is tentatively suggested that the advanced dental development in JRA patients compared with healthy children was partly an effect of treatment with cortisone, while the influence of the disorder per se remains to be elucidated. [source]


Association of RANTES promoter polymorphism with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 4 2009
Tsung-Chieh Yao
Objective We recently reported that RANTES was a key molecule in the pathogenesis of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) in a longitudinal cohort. This study was undertaken to investigate genetic associations between the RANTES ,28 C/G and ,403 G/A polymorphisms and JRA in a well-documented cohort of patients who were followed up prospectively. Methods Patients with JRA (n = 107) and healthy children (n = 139) were genotyped through use of a polymerase chain reaction,based assay. Association of the RANTES promoter polymorphisms with results of laboratory tests, clinical variables, outcome after clinical remission, and response to intraarticular triamcinolone injection was evaluated in patients who were followed up for >1 year. Results JRA patients had a significantly higher frequency of the RANTES ,28 G/G genotype, as compared with ethnically matched healthy controls. The RANTES ,28 C/G polymorphism was associated with the duration of clinical remission, with patients carrying the RANTES ,28G allele experiencing only 49% of the duration of remission experienced by patients who were RANTES ,28 C/C homozygous. The RANTES ,28 C/G polymorphism was associated with the duration of clinical response to intraarticular triamcinolone injection, with patients carrying the RANTES ,28G allele showing shorter duration of clinical response. No significant association between the RANTES ,403 G/A polymorphism and JRA was found in this Chinese population. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the RANTES ,28 C/G polymorphism represents a genetic risk factor for JRA. It is noteworthy that this RANTES promoter polymorphism was also associated with an early relapse of disease after clinical remission and a shorter duration of clinical response to intraarticular administration of corticosteroids. [source]


Musculoskeletal abnormalities of the tibia in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 3 2007
Elena M. O. Felin
Objective To characterize local bone geometry, density, and strength, using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), compared with general bone characteristics as measured using dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and to assess their relationship to disease-related factors in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Methods Forty-eight children ages 4,18 years with JRA (17 pauciarticular, 23 polyarticular, 8 systemic) were compared with age-matched healthy controls (n = 266). Measurements included cortical and trabecular bone geometry, density, and strength at the distal and midshaft tibia determined by pQCT, and whole-body, lumbar spine, and femoral neck measurements by DXA. Results Methotrexate (MTX) was prescribed to 23 of 48 patients (47.9%) and glucocorticoids and MTX were prescribed to 15 of 48 patients (31.3%), with the greatest use in children with systemic JRA. All JRA patients had decreased tibia trabecular bone density, cortical bone size and strength, and muscle mass. Children with systemic JRA had lower femoral neck densities. Systemic JRA was associated with a shorter, less mineralized skeleton, while a narrower, less mineralized skeleton was observed in polyarticular JRA. The tibia diaphysis was narrower with decreased muscle mass, but normal, size-adjusted bone mineral in all subtypes indicated a localized effect of JRA on bone. Patients exposed to glucocorticoids and MTX or to glucocorticoids or MTX alone had greatly reduced trabecular density, cortical bone geometry properties, and bone mineral content, muscle mass, and bone strength. Conclusion Children with JRA have decreased skeletal size, muscle mass, trabecular bone density, cortical bone geometry, and strength. Not surprisingly, these bone abnormalities are more pronounced in children with greater disease severity. [source]


Increased prevalence of familial autoimmunity in simplex and multiplex families with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 7 2002
Sampath Prahalad
Objective To determine if the prevalence of autoimmunity among relatives of patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is greater than that among relatives of healthy volunteer control subjects. Methods Interviews were used to obtain histories of the following disorders among living first- and second-degree relatives of 110 patients and 45 controls: alopecia areata, ankylosing spondylitis, dermatomyositis, Graves' disease, Hashimoto thyroiditis, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, iritis, JRA, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, RA, systemic lupus erythematosus, and vitiligo. Chi-squares, odds ratios (ORs), and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Families of 23 JRA affected sibpairs were interviewed subsequently. Results There were no significant differences between patients and controls with regard to age, sex, ethnicity, or family size. Patients had 1,228 relatives and controls had 496 relatives. Of all the relatives of the patients, 155 had at least 1 autoimmune disorder, compared with 20 relatives of the controls (12.6% versus 4.0%; OR 3.4 [95% CI 2.1,5.7], P < 0.000001). The prevalence of autoimmunity was increased in first-degree and in second-degree relatives of patients (16.1% and 10.6%, respectively). The prevalence of Hashimoto thyroiditis was significantly higher in the relatives of patients (OR 3.5 [95% CI 1.6,7.9], P = 0.0008). The prevalences of other disorders were not significantly different. JRA affected sibpair families had an increased prevalence of autoimmunity (15.0%). A history of arthritis was found significantly more frequently in the JRA affected sibpair families, but not in the simplex families. Conclusion These data demonstrate that the prevalence of autoimmunity is significantly higher among first- and second-degree relatives of JRA patients. This suggests that clinically different autoimmune phenotypes may share common susceptibility genes, which may act as risk factors for autoimmunity. [source]