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Patients with JIA, positive ANA achieve remission equally

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Patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis had positive antinuclear antibody tests were no more or less likely to achieve remission compared to patients with negative antinuclear antibody tests, according to the results of a study.

Demographic and clinical data were collected from a group of 648 patients diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) between January 2000 and May 2014. A positive antinuclear antibody test was defined as a titer equal to or greater than 1:160 on at least two occasions per patient. Wallace criteria was used to identify remission in patients with JIA with and without medication.

Positive ANA tests were seen in 36% of patients, 77% of whom were female. The mean age of ANA-positive patients with JIA was 6.5 years at the time of diagnosis, and the disease duration at last follow-up was a mean of 6.3 years compared to 9.3 years of age at diagnosis and 4.8 years of follow-up in the patients who were ANA-negative.

Arthritis subtypes in the ANA-positive patients included 2% systemic, 41% persistent oligoarticular, 21% extended oligoarticular, 25% rheumatoid factor- (RF-) negative polyarthritis, 3% RF-positive polyarthritis, 4% psoriatic arthritis, 3% enthesitis-related arthritis and 1% undifferentiated. Subtypes among patients who were ANA-negative were 11% systemic, 31% persistent oligoarticular, 12% extended oligoarticular, 19% RF-negative polyarthritis, 3% RF-positive polyarthritis, 4% psoriatic arthritis, 8% enthesitis-related arthritis and 7% undifferentiated forms of arthritis.

Joint counts were similar in each group with a mean number of joints of three. However, uveitis was detected in 18% of ANA-positive patients compared to 2.4% in ANA-negative patients with JIA. Remission was comparable in each group with 26% of patients on medication for more than 6 months and in 50% of ANA-positive patients compared to 53% of ANA-negative patients who did not receive medication for 12 months. – by Shirley Pulawski

Reference:

Glerup M, et al. Paper #FRI0501. Presented at: European League Against Rheumatism Annual European Congress of Rheumatology. June 10-13, 2015; Rome.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.