title: Systemic features and early prognostic factors in Hispanic and non-Hispanic children from the United States of America and Mexico with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate if the persistence of systemic features is longer in Hispanic children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (S-JIA) than in non-Hispanic children with S-JIA and to determine early predictors of systemic and articular disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a multi-center retrospective chart review of patients followed in six pediatric rheumatology centers with onset of S-JIA from 1974 to 2004. Patients were included in the study if they had been followed for > or = 1 year after disease onset. Information collected included demographic, clinical, laboratory and treatment data. Systemic features included fever, rash, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, pericarditis, and pleuritis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 159 S-JIA patients screened, 120 (75%) met our inclusion criteria. There were 65 boys and 55 girls. The mean follow-up period for Hispanic patients was 5.7 years (SD 4.0) and for non-Hispanic patients was 8.6 years (SD 7.2). There was no significant difference in the presence of systemic features between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 years of follow-up. Polyarthritis at the 6-month visit was predictive of systemic features (OR 9.7, 95% CI 1.16-81.35, p = 0.036) and polyarthritis (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.42-21.8, p = 0.014) at last follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In children with S-JIA, Hispanics did not demonstrate longer persistence of systemic features than non-Hispanics. Polyarthritis at 6 months strongly predicted the development of persistent systemic features and chronic polyarticular disease.
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. mshishov@phoenixchildrens.com
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shishov
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henrickson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burgos-Vargas
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rubio-Pérez
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baca
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Romero-Feregrino
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solís-Vallejo
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Grom
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lovell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States