Kawarabi: Administrative Structuring of a Multicenter Research Collaborative to Study Kawasaki Disease in the Arab Countries.

Kawasaki disease (KD), the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed countries, merits conducting detailed studies in Arab countries. We introduce Kawarabi, as a multicenter research collaborative effort dedicated to improving diagnosis, care, and outcome of children and adults with KD in the Arab world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there emerged a new multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children; a disease similar to KD. This highlighted the challenges that Arab physicians face in diagnosing and managing children with KD and KD-like illnesses. Kawarabi brings together experts in North America and Arab nations to study this family of diseases in a not-for-profit, voluntary scientific collaborative setting. Bylaws addressing the vision, objectives, structure, and governance of Kawarabi were established, and vetted by the 45 organizing members in 2021. An initial scientific publication showed evidence of a decreased level of awareness of the disease in the general population, as well as the lack of access to resources available for physicians caring for children with KD in Arab countries. Kawarabi has since held several educational webinars and an inaugural yearly meeting. The groundwork for future initiatives targeted at increasing awareness and understanding of the management and the long-term outcomes of children with KD in the region was established. Data on KD in the Arab world are lacking. Kawarabi is a multicenter research collaborative organization that has the unique resources, diversified ethnic makeup, and energy, to accomplish significant advances in our understanding and management of KD and its variants.

Efficacy of Anakinra Treatment in two Moroccan Patients With Mevalonate Kinase Deficiency.

Mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD) is a rare hereditary autoinflammatory disease, with a widely variable clinical spectrum. It is characterized by febrile recurrent episodes and systemic inflammation. Data on therapeutic options for MKD are still limited and remain unknown in our country. We report Moroccan cases with MKD referred in our unit and treated with Anakinra, an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist. Through this study, we evaluate the efficacy of this bioagent, in our 2 MKD patients, in whom Anakinra has shown a complete clinical remission, with a remaining mild inflammation for one case, and normalization of growth with rare episodes of cervical adenopathies for the second case. Our experience provides an additional argument supporting the efficacy of Anakinra treatment, demonstrated previously but still lacks of objective data.

Factors associated with poor prognosis of hip arthritis in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Data from the JIR cohort.

OBJECTIVES: Hip involvement remains a predictor of severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) course and carries a high risk of disability. This study aims to determine the factors of poor prognosis of hip involvement in patients with JIA and to assess the treatment response. METHODS: This is a multicenter observational cohort study. Patients were selected from the JIR Cohort database. Hip involvement was defined as clinically suspected and confirmed by an imaging tool. Follow-up data were collected during 5 years. RESULTS: Among the 2223 patients with JIA, 341(15%) patients had hip arthritis. Male gender, enthesitis-related arthritis, and North African origin were factors associated with hip arthritis. Hip inflammation was associated with disease activity parameters during the first year, particularly Physician Global Assessment, joint count, and inflammatory marks. Structural hip progression was associated with early onset of the disease, a longer time to diagnosis, geographic origin, and JIA subtypes. Anti-TNF therapy was found to be the only treatment able to effectively reduce structural damage progression. CONCLUSION: The early onset diagnostic delay, origin, and systemic subtype of JIA predict a poor prognosis of hip arthritis in children with JIA. The use of anti-TNF was associated with a better structural prognosis.