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Comorbid rheumatic diseases may be common in patients with familial Mediterranean fever

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Patients with familial Mediterranean fever may have comorbid rheumatic diseases that are not prevented with adequate colchicine therapy, according to study findings.

A group of 13 children (nine girls) with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) were diagnosed at the Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology in Moscow between 2008 and 2014. Eleven of the patients were Armenian and two were descendants of individuals from the North Caucasus region. The disease was concurrent with other rheumatic pathologies in five patients, including oligoarticular juvenile arthritis in two patients; chronic, recurrent, multifocal osteomyelitis in one patient; and both ankylosing spondylitis and Henoch-Schönlein hemorrhagic vasculitis in one child. Acute rheumatic fever was also observed in one child. All patients with comorbidities had the diagnosis of FMF verified by the presence of the MEFV gene mutation.

Three of the five patients with comorbidities were girls. Four patients developed the comorbidities following the onset of FMF, and one developed FMF following acute rheumatic fever. The children were 1 year to 11 years of age at the time of onset, with a mean age of 7.75 years. The onset of comorbidities occurred between the ages of 5 years and 11 years, or at a mean age of 9 years. The mean duration of FMF prior to the onset of a comorbid rheumatic disease was 1 month to 9 years, according to the researchers.

Two of the patients were treated with colchicine, and Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen) was used to treat the two children with juvenile arthritis. – by Shirley Pulawski

Reference:

Federov E, et al. Paper #AB0974. Presented at: European League Against Rheumatism Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; June 10-13, 2015; Rome.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.