Herpes zoster infection in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus patients: a large multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this multicenter study in a large childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) population was to assess the herpes zoster infection (HZI) prevalence, demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, treatment, and outcome. METHODS: A retrospective multicenter cohort study (Brazilian cSLE group) was performed in ten Pediatric Rheumatology services in São Paulo State, Brazil, and included 852 cSLE patients. HZI was defined according to the presence of acute vesicular-bullous lesions on erythematous/edematous base, in a dermatomal distribution. Post-herpetic neuralgia was defined as persistent pain after one month of resolution of lesions in the same dermatome. Patients were divided in two groups for the assessment of current lupus manifestations, laboratory findings, and treatment: patients with HZI (evaluated at the first HZI) and patients without HZI (evaluated at the last visit). RESULTS: The frequency of HZI in cSLE patients was 120/852 (14%). Hospitalization occurred in 73 (61%) and overlap bacterial infection in 16 (13%). Intravenous or oral aciclovir was administered in 113/120 (94%) cSLE patients at HZI diagnosis. None of them had ophthalmic complication or death. Post-herpetic neuralgia occurred in 6/120 (5%). After Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, disease duration (1.58 vs 4.41 years, p < 0.0001) was significantly lower in HZI cSLE patients compared to those without HZI. Nephritis (37% vs 18%, p < 0.0001), lymphopenia (32% vs 17%, p < 0.0001) prednisone (97% vs 77%, p < 0.0001), cyclophosphamide (20% vs 5%, p < 0.0001) and SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (6.0 (0-35) vs 2 (0-45), p < 0.0001) were significantly higher in the former group. The logistic regression model showed that four independent variables were associated with HZI: disease duration < 1 year (OR 2.893 (CI 1.821-4.597), p < 0.0001), lymphopenia <1500/mm(3) (OR 1.931 (CI 1.183-3.153), p = 0.009), prednisone (OR 6.723 (CI 2.072-21.815), p = 0.002), and cyclophosphamide use (OR 4.060 (CI 2.174-7.583), p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: HZI is an early viral infection in cSLE with a typical dermatomal distribution. Lymphopenia and immunosuppressive treatment seem to be major factors underlying this complication in spite of a benign course.

[Atypical arthritis in children with rheumatic fever] / Manifestações articulares atípicas em crianças com febre reumática.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the clinical manifestations and to assess the occurrence of atypical arthritis in ARF patients attending a Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic at the University Hospital of Ribeirão Preto. METHODS: We have studied retrospectively the records of 120 attacks of ARF in 109 children, 3-13 years old, who attended our clinic from January 1990 to December 1995. All children fulfilled the Jones criteria. RESULTS: 77% of the attacks involved arthritis, 62% carditis, 32% chorea, 2.5% subcutaneous nodules and 1.3% erythema marginatum. The number of involved joints was 1 in 3 episodes of ARF, 2-5 in 52, 6-10 in 30 and more than 10 in 5. Arthritis was considered atypical in 43 (47%) of the 92 ARF episodes with arthritis, based on the following criteria: involvement of unusual joints (cervical spine in 24 children, hip in 15, small joints of the hand in 12 or feet in 13); monarthritis (3); duration longer than 3 weeks (26); incomplete response to salicylates (18). Association of these atypical features were frequently present. For instance, considering the 24 episodes with cervical spine involvement, the duration of arthritis was longer than 3 weeks in 13 cases, 10 had insufficient response to salicylates and the hip joint was also involved in 7. Time to reach diagnosis was longer than 4 weeks in 59% of the patients presenting with atypical arthritis compared to 35% in the other patients (p=0.04). Different diagnosis were considered at the beginning of the disease in 40% of the 120 episodes and in 65% of the ones presenting with atypical arthritis (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: We conclude that atypical arthritis was present in a significant proportion of ARF episodes, adding an extra dilemma to the diagnosis of this intriguing disease.