Clinical profile of juvenile idiopathic arthritis from a tertiary care hospital in Northern India

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common rheumatological disorder in children with wide variation in its clinical profile. Objective: The aim is to study the clinical, laboratory, radiological, and treatment profile of children with JIA attending the rheumatology clinic of a tertiary care hospital in Northern India. Methods: In this prospective observational study, we analyzed the clinical, serological, radiological, and treatment profile of 56 consecutive JIA patients attending our hospital between January 2013 to December 2016. Results: Out of 56 children, 38 (67.8%) were boys and 18 (32.2%) were girls. Five (8.9%), 15 (26.8%), 16 (28.5%), and 20 (35.7%) children had oligoarticular, systemic-onset JIA (SOJIA), polyarticular JIA, and enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA), respectively, with male: female ratios being 0.67:1. 6.5:1, 0.45:1 and 9:1, respectively. Mean age at disease onset was 6.7 ± 4.3 (mean ± standard deviation), 6.6 ± 4.5, 6.0 ± 2.6, and 10.4 ± 3.2 years in SOJIA, polyarticular, oligoarticular and ERA, respectively. Arthritis was present in all patients. Fever, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and rash were exclusive to patients with SOJIA. Uveitis and anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) positivity (3.5% each) were rare findings. Knee was the most common joint involved in all subtypes except SOJIA, where the wrist was most commonly involved. All children with SOJIA and polyarticular JIA required conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. Seven children with SOJIA, six children with polyarticular JIA and six children with ERA received biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, in view of refractory disease. Conclusion: JIA-ERA, followed by polyarticular JIA, were most common subtypes of JIA in our study. The knee is the most common joint to be involved. Uveitis and ANA positivity are rare findings in our subsets of children.