[Chronic juvenile arthritis with serum antinuclear antibodies. Study of 136 cases]

The charts of 136 patients presenting with juvenile chronic arthritis and antinuclear antibodies were reviewed. Mean age at onset was 3.6 yrs and 120 patients were females. Twenty-one patients presented with the polyarticular type of the disease from onset. Among them, 3 had polyarthritis with presence of rheumatoid factors. During the first year of follow-up, 40% of the pauciarticular forms became polyarticular. They may be subdivided into extended pauciarticular (5 to 9 arthritis = 26% of cases) or polyarticular (greater than 9 arthritis = 15% of cases) forms. The ocular involvement, present in 50 patients, preceded the articular manifestations in 5 cases (for a maximum of 4 years) whereas it followed in 30 cases (maximum delay of 14 years). Inflammatory articular involvement is not always correlated with the risk of ocular involvement. Long-term articular prognosis is generally fair. Only 15 children present with clearcut functional handicaps, of whom 4 are requiring the help of a third person.