Epidemiology of adult Still's disease

Recurring Lower Abdominal Pain and Fever as Initial Presentation of Adult Onset Still's Disease in the Absence of Arthralgia and Other System Involvement

A 34 year-old Afro-Caribbean female presented with recurring episodes of fever and lower abdominal pain over a period of two months not improving despite courses of antibiotics for possible recurrent urinary tract infections. On admission to hospital, patient was treated for a possible pyelonephritis or pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Extensive investigations into possible source of infection were carried out. However, all of the repeated microbiological cultures were normal. Patient was investigated further for other possible causes including connective tissue disease, haematological disorders, or neoplasm, all of which were normal. Diagnosis of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) was confirmed by a rheumatologist based on Yamaguchi’s diagnostic criteria for AOSD alongside significantly raised serum ferritin. Patient was treated with steroids to which she showed remarkable clinical improvement alongside marked reduction in her serum ferritin levels.

Adult-Onset Still Disease in Southeast Brazil

BACKGROUND

Adult-onset Still disease (AOSD) has been described all over the world. Clinical presentations and prognosis have varied in different studies.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine the clinical presentation and the evolution of AOSD at a tertiary referral center in southeast Brazil.

METHODS

The clinical records of 16 patients were retrospectively studied to determine symptoms at diagnosis, follow up, and the medication prescribed.

RESULTS

The mean age at onset was 30.8 years (range, 24-55 years; standard deviation [SD], 9.2 years) with a slight male prevalence (54.2%). All patients presented constitutional symptoms, fever, and skin rash. Liver involvement was observed in all cases, with hepatomegaly in 81.3%, increased liver enzymes in 50.0%, and hypergammaglobulinemia in 68.8%. Cardiac involvement was observed in 12.6%, pleuritis in 6.3%, and renal involvement in 25.0%. All patients presented leukocytosis with a predominance of neutrophils. Elevated ferritin levels were observed in 56.3%, and these levels were normalized after disease remission. Initial treatments included nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and low-dosage corticosteroids in all patients; 43.8% also needed methotrexate. In 25.0% of cases, a monocyclic disease was observed; others had recurrent episodes. After a follow up of 6.9 years (SD, 1.2 years), carpal ankylosis was the main articular sequel, observed in 53.6% of the patients.

CONCLUSION

AOSD is rare in southeast Brazil. Although less severe systemic manifestations, like serositis and pneumonitis, were observed, reversible liver involvement was common; the frequency of recurrent disease and carpal ankylosis was higher than in previous studies.

Age-specific effects of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis-associated HLA alleles

OBJECTIVE

To define the onset and duration of effect of the HLA alleles that are associated with disease susceptibility and protection in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and 2 of its subtypes.

METHODS

We typed 680 patients with JRA and 254 ethnically matched unrelated controls for HLA class I and II genes. The frequency of each allele was calculated for each of the age-at-onset, onset type, and sex categories and plotted against the allele frequency in the control population. Survival analysis (with onset of disease as the terminating event) was used to calculate the age by which 50% (St0.5) and 80% (St0.2) of the children with particular alleles and combinations of alleles develop disease. This allele-specific survival analysis also allowed for the comparison of the overall survival functions for the various JRA subtype and sex categories.

RESULTS

Certain alleles are strongly associated with early susceptibility to pauciarticular JRA, including HLA-A2, DR8, DR5, and DPB1*0201. Fifty percent of the children carrying at least 1 of these alleles had disease onset prior to their third birthday. Among children who carried HLA-A2 and any 2 HLA-DR alleles (DR3, DR5, DR6, or DR8), the median age at the onset of pauciarticular disease was 2.7 years. Combinations of A2 and DPB1*0201 and one DR allele narrowed the window further to a median age at onset of 2.4 years. B27 and DR4 were associated with protection early in life but with increased risk later in childhood, with St0.5 values of 7.3 and 6.6 years, respectively, for pauciarticular JRA and St0.5 values of 10.2 and 10.7 years, respectively, for polyarticular JRA. Sex strongly influenced the age at which many of the alleles have their effect.

CONCLUSION

These data define at what age and for how long various HLA alleles influence susceptibility and protection (window-of-effect) in patients with JRA. In addition, these data establish more clearly the boundaries of ages-at-onset for 2 of the subtypes of the disease.