Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis: Clinical characteristics in 100 Thai patients

Summary

The clinical characteristic of 100 patients diagnosed for JRA at the Department of Pediatrics, Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand during 1968–1984 are reported. There were 64 male and 36 female patients with a respective ratio of 1.7∶1. In ninety-one percent the age of onset was over the age of five, the most common type being polyarticular onset (77%) followed by pauciarticular onset (13%) and systemic onset (10%). Twenty percent had a positive rheumatoid factor and 4% had cardiac complications. Over half of the patients (58%) responded to salicylate and other supportive treatment. The overall remission was 36 percent with a mean follow-up of 3.8 years. The highest remission rate was found in the polyarticular type of onset (43%) followed by systemic onset (33%) and pauciarticular onset (23%). Only 11 percent of the patients responded poorly to the treatment. As opposed to Western reports differences occurred in the type of onset, sex, and eye complications.