Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis: clinical characteristics in 100 Thai patients

The clinical characteristic of 100 patients diagnosed for JRA at the Department of Pediatrics, Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand during 1968-1984 are reported. There were 64 male and 36 female patients with a respective ratio of 1.7:1. In ninety-one percent the age of onset was over the age of five, the most common type being polyarticular onset (77%) followed by pauciarticular onset (13%) and systemic onset (10%). Twenty percent had a positive rheumatoid factor and 4% had cardiac complications. Over half of the patients (58%) responded to salicylate and other supportive treatment. The overall remission was 36 percent with a mean follow-up of 3.8 years. The highest remission rate was found in the polyarticular type of onset (43%) followed by systemic onset (33%) and pauciarticular onset (23%). Only 11 percent of the patients responded poorly to the treatment. As opposed to Western reports differences occurred in the type of onset, sex, and eye complications.