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Clinical response to etanercept in polyarticular course juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
D A Kietz1, P H Pepmueller, T L Moore
1Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63104, USA.
Objective:
To evaluate safety and clinical response to treatment with etanercept in the polyarticular course of patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA).
Methods:
Ten patients were studied (8 female, 2 male; 6 polyarticular JRA, 4 systemic onset; mean age 13.3 yrs; mean duration of disease 6.6 yrs). Patients received 0.4 mg/kg etanercept subcutaneously twice weekly in addition to their existing therapeutic regimen. Observed duration of treatment ranged between 4 and 12 months.
Results:
Patients tolerated treatment with etanercept well. No serious adverse events were noted. Treatment response showed considerable improvement of morning stiffness (mean reduction of 96 min approximately equal to -93%) and joint counts including swollen joints (delta -8.2 approximately equal to -40%), tender joints (delta -9.2 approximately equal to -88%), and total joints (delta -9.8 approximately equal to -37%). Laboratory results included decreases in ESR (delta -46 mm/h approximately equal to -53%) and improvement of anemia.
Conclusion:
Our results confirm etanercept is a powerful adjunct in the therapy of polyarticular JRA resistant to conventional treatment regimens.