Nerve conduction velocity in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities (NCV) were recorded in several nerves of a total of 99 patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), and the results were compared to those obtained for two reference groups, one consisting of healthy children and the other of 30 children with different articular manifestations. The JRA and the affected reference group were not found to differ significantly from each other. NCV values were systematically slightly higher and the distal median nerve latencies slightly shorter in the patients with JRA than in the healthy reference group. Several measurement values differed from each other significantly. Some patients with JRA showed slightly decreased NCVs in individual nerves, but manifest mononeuropathy was not found. The results show that complications of peripheral nervous system origin do not typically occur in association with JRA.