Juvenile-onset Rheumatic Diseases Research Articles

Correction: EULAR/PreS standards and recommendations for the transitional care of young people with juvenile-onset rheumatic diseases.

Correction: EULAR/PreS standards and recommendations for the transitional care of young people with juvenile-onset rheumatic diseases.

JUVENILE ARTHRITIS IN PEDIATRIC AND ADULT RHEUMATOLOGY SERVICE: THE PROBLEM OF CONTINUITY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS

The undeniable progress made over the last decade in the treatment of patients with severe juvenile arthritis has ranked in the order of priorities for the provision of efficient and reliable continuity in the management tactics for patients after their transition from their follow-up by a pediatrician to adult rheumatology service. A number of objective difficulties in organizing such continuity are associated primarily with the heterogeneity of the juvenile arthritis group in its clinical manifestations and nosological outcomes. The features of physiological processes of a growing organism cause significant differences in the nature of the course, manifestations of certain clinically significant syndromes (for example, delayed axial skeleton involvement after the onset in juvenile spondyloarthritis), radiological pattern and immunological markers in juvenile-onset rheumatic diseases. Timely active therapy with increasingly available innovative technologies, biological agents in particular, provides a successful disease-modifying effect, so when a patient with juvenile arthritis is transferred from his/her follow-up by a pediatrician to adult rheumatology service, there may be a wrong opinion about the performed redundant therapy and the expediency of its cancellation or correction, which sometimes leads to irreparable negative consequences. The used indices and other tools to assess the activity and functional status are fundamentally different in children and adults with joint inflammatory diseases. The paper presents a brief review of the current state of the problem and international experience with continuity in the follow-up of patients with juvenile arthritis between pediatric and adult rheumatology service.

EULAR/PReS standards and recommendations for the transitional care of young people with juvenile-onset rheumatic diseases

To develop standards and recommendations for transitional care for young people (YP) with juvenile-onset rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (jRMD). The consensus process involved the following: (1) establishing an international expert...

Antibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin and antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The goal of the study was to assess the presence of antibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) and cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP) in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) compared with patients with other juvenile onset rheumatic diseases. The study included 56 patients who fulfilled the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) classification criteria for JIA, and 17 control patients with other juvenile onset rheumatic diseases. Data on six core outcome variables and the Sharp score were collected for patients with JIA. Sera and synovial fluid, if available, were tested for anti-CCP and anti-MCV antibodies using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Anti-MCV antibodies were positive in 3/56 (5.4%) and anti-CCP in 1/56 (1.8%) of patients with JIA. Two out of three anti-MCV positive patients (one of them also anti-CCP positive) were found to be rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive with polyarticular disease. Within the control group, anti-MCV was positive in 4/17 (23.5%) patients, while anti-CCP positivity was not observed. No correlation between anti-MCV with anti-CCP antibody levels was found for any of the six core outcome variables or for the adapted Sharp score. Our results show that antibodies targeting citrullinated proteins are not a useful diagnostic marker for JIA, but can indicate severe patterns of disease in JIA.