title: Clinical and laboratory profile of childhood polyarteritis nodosa in a Bangladeshi tertiary hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Polyarteritis nodosa in children is a rare necrotizing vasculitis affecting mainly small and medium-size arteries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the different clinical patterns and laboratory profiles of polyarteritis nodosa patients in a tertiary care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective cohort study carried out in the Department of Paediatrics, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period January 2007 to December 2012. A total of 13 patients fulfilling the European League Against Rheumatism/Paediatric Rheumatology International Trial Organization/Paediatric Rheumatology European Society (EULAR/PRINTO/PRES) classification criteria were enrolled in this study. Data was collected via a predesigned questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age range was 3-12 years, male : female ratio was 9 : 4. The duration of symptoms was 2-16 weeks. All the children had fever, anorexia and generalized weakness. Subcutaneous nodules were present in 77% of cases followed by arthritis and rash (69%), muscle pain (54%) and abdominal pain (38%). Impaired peripheral pulses were present in 54%, ulceration and gangrene was present in 31% and auto-amputation was present in 15% of cases. All the patients had high erythrocyte sedimentation rates followed by neutrophilic leukocytosis and thrombocytosis (85% and 62%). Skin biopsy was positive in 77% of cases and angiographic abnormalities were present in 23% of cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most clinical and laboratory profiles of polyarteritis nodosa in our center, such as age, sex, fever, rash, arthritis and abdominal pain, were mostly similar to other reports; however some late cases were found in this series with complications such as gangrene and auto-amputation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Manik K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Talukder
authors.forename: Mohammad I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Shahana A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rahman
mesh_terms: D000855:Anorexia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001459:Bangladesh; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005734:Gangrene / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010488:Polyarteritis Nodosa / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers
keywords: clinical profile; laboratory profile; polyarteritis nodosa