to seek for predictors of inactive disease (ID) in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with artificial intelligence. The clinical charts of patients seen within 6 months after disease onset between 2007 and 2019 and with follow-up visits at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months were reviewed retrospectively. Sixty-eight potential predictors were recorded at each visit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bronchiolitis is a viral respiratory illness affecting children younger than one year of age, and its accurate prognosis in the emergency department (ED) is often difficult. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has been shown to be useful in risk stratification with respect to the likelihood of being admitted to the hospital or high-intensity care units, receiving supplemental oxygen, or non-invasive ventilation (NIV). Our aim is to evaluate the predictive value of point-of-care lung ultrasound performed in a pediatric ED, especially regarding hospitalization, need for oxygen therapy and NIV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The objectives of this study were to characterize some phenotypic and functional aspects of fibroblast-like synoviocytes isolated from the Synovial Fluid (SF-FLSs) of patients affected by Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) with active disease and to compare SF-FLS characteristics with those reported in the literature for FLSs of the SM (Synovial Membrane) in adult rheumatic patients.
Methods: FLSs were isolated from the SF of JIA patients with active disease by therapeutic arthrocentesis. SF-FLS surface marker expression was assessed by cytofluorimetry; proinflammatory cytokine and MMP gene expression was investigated by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR); and chondrogenic properties were evaluated by staining with Alcian-Blue.
Pediatr Rheumatol Online J
March 2025
Background: To our knowledge, limited information is available about the differences in the characteristics of rheumatoid factor (RF)-negative polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) throughout the world. This study was aimed to compare the demographic and clinical features of patients with RF-negative polyarthritis across the world.
Methods: Patients were part of a multinational sample included in a study aimed to investigate the prevalence of disease categories, treatment regimens, and disease status in patients from different geographical areas (EPOCA Study).
Pediatr Rheumatol Online J
January 2025
Background: Over the past two decades there has been a remarkable advance in the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), which has led to considerable improvement in prognosis. In 2018, the introduction of the treat-to-target (T2T) strategy in JIA has been advocated to further ameliorate disease outcome. To provide a benchmark for comparing future outcomes in the "T2T era", this study investigates the percentage of JIA patients who achieved clinical inactive disease (CID) in the decade that preceded the publication of the T2T recommendations in JIA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To develop parent- and child-centred versions of the Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score (JADAS) and to provide preliminary evidence of their validity.
Methods: Validation analyses were conducted on two large multinational datasets of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and included assessment of construct validity, internal consistency and structure, discriminative validity, responsiveness to change, and predictive validity.
Results: The parJADAS and patJADAS include four parent/patient-reported outcomes, each measured on a 0-10 scale: assessment of overall disease activity; rating of pain intensity; assessment of activity of joint disease; and duration of morning stiffness.
Clin Exp Rheumatol
March 2024
Objectives: Limited information is available on the clinical features, treatment modalities and outcomes of the juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) categories of enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) and juvenile psoriatic arthritis (JPsA). This study was aimed to describe the characteristics of Italian children with ERA and JPsA and to compare them with those of patients with the other categories of JIA.
Methods: Patients were part of a multinational sample included in a study aimed to investigate the prevalence of disease categories, treatment approaches, and disease status in patients from across different geographical areas (EPOCA Study).
Objective: To investigate the frequency in which the physician provides a global assessment of disease activity (PhGA) >0 and an active joint count (AJC)=0 in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and search for determinants of divergence between the two measures.
Methods: Data were extracted from a multinational cross-sectional dataset of 9966 patients who had JIA by International League of Associations for Rheumatology criteria, were recruited between 2011 and 2016, and had both PhGA and AJC recorded by the caring paediatric rheumatologist at the study visit. Determinants of discordance between PhGA>0 and AJC=0 were searched for by multivariable logistic regression and dominance analyses.
One of the most challenging and intriguing phenomena observed during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Patients with this condition present with some clinical features similar to those of Kawasaki disease (KD) and display signs and symptoms that are uncommon or rarely occur in this disorder, such as gastrointestinal complaints and myocarditis, often leading to myocardial failure and shock. In addition, patients' age is older than that of children with classic KD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArthritis Care Res (Hoboken)
February 2023
Objective: The aim of this work was to provide evidence of validity and reliability for 4 parent/child-reported outcome measures included in the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology juvenile idiopathic arthritis core domain set: the evaluation of the child's pain and level of disease activity, the assessment of morning stiffness duration, and an active joint count for proxy/self-assessment.
Methods: Patients were included in the multinational study Epidemiology Treatment and Outcome of Childhood Arthritis. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the correlation of the 4 tested measures with physician measures and the clinical Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score in 10 joints (cJADAS10) in the whole sample and after grouping patients by International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) category, geographic area, and education level.