Standardized nailfold capillaroscopy in children with rheumatic diseases: a worldwide study.

OBJECTIVES: To standardly assess and describe nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) assessment in children and adolescents with juvenile rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (jRMD) vs healthy controls (HCs). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In consecutive jRMD children and matched HCs from 13 centres worldwide, 16 NVC images per patient were acquired locally and read centrally per international consensus standard evaluation of the EULAR Study Group on Microcirculation in Rheumatic Diseases. A total of 95 patients with JIA, 22 with JDM, 20 with childhood-onset SLE (cSLE), 13 with juvenile SSc (jSSc), 21 with localized scleroderma (lSc), 18 with MCTD and 20 with primary RP (PRP) were included. NVC differences between juvenile subgroups and HCs were calculated through multivariable regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 6474 images were assessed from 413 subjects (mean age 12.1 years, 70.9% female). The quantitative NVC characteristics were significantly lower or higher in the following subgroups compared with HCs: for density: lower in jSSc, JDM, MCTD, cSLE and lSc; for dilations: higher in jSSc, MCTD and JDM; for abnormal shapes: higher in JDM and MCTD; for haemorrhages: higher in jSSc, MCTD, JDM and cSLE. The qualitative NVC assessment of JIA, lSc and PRP did not differ from HCs, whereas the cSLE and jSSc, MCTD, JDM and cSLE subgroups showed more non-specific and scleroderma patterns, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis resulted from a pioneering registry of NVC in jRMD. The NVC assessment in jRMD differed significantly from HCs. Future prospective follow-up will further elucidate the role of NVC in jRMD.

Defining Criteria for Disease Activity States in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Based on the Systemic Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to develop and validate cutoff values in the systemic Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score 10 (sJADAS10) that distinguish the states of inactive disease (ID), minimal disease activity (MDA), moderate disease activity (MoDA), and high disease activity (HDA) in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, based on subjective disease state assessment by the treating pediatric rheumatologist. METHODS: The cutoff definition cohort was composed of 400 patients enrolled at 30 pediatric rheumatology centers in 11 countries. Using the subjective physician rating as an external criterion, six methods were applied to identify the cutoffs: mapping, calculation of percentiles of cumulative score distribution, the Youden index, 90% specificity, maximum agreement, and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Sixty percent of the patients were assigned to the definition cohort, and 40% were assigned to the validation cohort. Cutoff validation was conducted by assessing discriminative ability. RESULTS: The sJADAS10 cutoffs that separated ID from MDA, MDA from MoDA, and MoDA from HDA were ≤2.9, ≤10, and >20.6, respectively. The cutoffs discriminated strongly among different levels of pain, between patients with and without morning stiffness, and among patients whose parents judged their disease status as remission or persistent activity or flare or were satisfied or not satisfied with current illness outcome. CONCLUSION: The sJADAS cutoffs revealed good metrologic properties in both definition and validation cohorts and are therefore suitable for use in clinical trials and routine practice.

Genetic Disorders in Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic: When to Suspect, and Why?

Just under a decade ago, most children with genetic disorders received a phenotypic diagnosis, often by atlas matching. With advances in genomics (decoding of human genome, easy availability of genetic testing, and reduction in cost of tests), genotypic diagnosis is now a reality. Genetic diseases can lead to non-inflammatory arthritis that can mimic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). A small but growing number (as newer genes are discovered) of genetic diseases are being diagnosed in children with a seemingly inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases or connective tissue diseases. A high index of suspicion by the pediatrician is most important for early diagnosis of these genetic disorders. In a busy outpatient clinic, it is the atypical presentation of a disease in a child that suggests a possibility of underlying genetic autoinflammatory or autoimmune disease. Correct diagnosis helps the physician, child, parent, and community.

Majeed Syndrome: Five Cases With Novel Mutations From Unrelated Families in India With a Review of Literature.

OBJECTIVE: Majeed syndrome (MJS) is an autosomal recessive, systemic autoinflammatory disease (SAID) caused by biallelic loss-of-function variants in the LPIN2 gene. It is characterized by early-onset chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), dyserythropoietic anemia, and neutrophilic dermatosis. We analyzed a cohort of uncharacterized Indian patients for pathogenic variants in LPIN2 and other genes associated with SAIDs. METHODS: We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) for 1 patient and next-generation sequencing (NGS) targeted gene panel for SAIDs in 3 patients. One patient was a referral from neurology after clinical exome sequencing identified a novel variant in LPIN2. We reviewed the literature for all published studies of mutation-positive MJS patients and have summarized their clinical features and disease-causing variants. RESULTS: We describe the largest series of patients with MJS outside of the Middle East. All 5 patients are homozygous for novel, possibly pathogenic variants in the LPIN2 gene. Two of these variants are missense substitutions, and 3 are predicted to alter transcript splicing and create a truncated protein. In addition to the classical features of CRMO and anemia, patients exhibited previously unreported features, including abdominal pain, recurrent diarrhea/ear discharge, and erythema nodosum. CONCLUSION: Patients with MJS may present initially to different specialists, and thus it is important to create awareness in the medical community. In India, consanguinity is a common sociocultural factor in many ethnic communities and an abbreviated NGS gene panel for autoinflammatory diseases should include MJS. The unavailability of interleukin 1 inhibitors in some countries poses a treatment challenge.