Psoriatic arthritis in children

Abstract

A proposed definition of juvenile psoriatic arthritis (JPsA) was used to identify definite or probable JPsA in 35 children. Definite JPsA (24 patients) was defined as arthritis associated, but not necessarily coincident, with a typical psoriatic rash, or arthritis plus at least 3 of 4 minor criteria: dactylitis, nail pitting, psoriasis-like rash, or family history of psoriasis. Probable JPsA (11 patients) was defined as arthritis plus 2 of the minor criteria. In 33 of 35 patients, the onset of arthritis was pauciarticular, but the disease followed a polyarticular course in 23 of 35. Chronic anterior uveitis (6 of 35), antinuclear antibodies (22 of 35), anticollagen antibodies (10 of 35), HLA-DR4 (2 of 28), and HLA-DR8 (5 of 28) occurred with frequencies similar to those seen in patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. JPsA may have more in common with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis than with the seronegative spondylarthropathies with which it is traditionally associated.