Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jan 31;15(1):7.
doi: 10.1186/s12969-017-0139-3.

Spectrum of paediatric rheumatic diseases in Nigeria

Babatunde Hakeem Olaosebikan  1 , Olufemi Oladipo Adelowo  1 , Barakat Adeola Animashaun  2 , Richard Oluyinka Akintayo  3
Affiliations

Spectrum of paediatric rheumatic diseases in Nigeria

Babatunde Hakeem Olaosebikan et al. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. .

Abstract

Background: Paediatric rheumatology service in Sub-Sahara African is virtually not available as there is a shortage of paediatric rheumatologists and other rheumatology health professionals. We aim to describe the clinical spectrum and the frequencies of paediatric rheumatic diseases (PRDs) in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Lagos, Nigeria.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of patients with PRDs seen over a five year period (March 2010 to February 2016) at the rheumatology clinic and children ward of LASUTH. We reviewed the folders of 57 patients from our records. The demographics, baseline laboratory features, clinical diagnosis, treatment patterns and patient outcomes were extracted and analyzed. Clinical and laboratory characteristics between patients with Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and patients with juvenile connective tissue diseases (JCTD) were compared using Fisher's exact test.

Results: Fifty seven patients were studied with a female to male ratio of 3 to 1 (Female: 43; M: 14). The mean age at presentation in years was 14 ± 4.4 years (range: 1.5-22 years). The mean duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 18.4 ± .9 months (range: 2-60 months). The diagnostic types of PRDs included 28(49.1%) cases of JIA. These were made up of 14 cases of polyarticular JIA, nine cases of oligoarticular JIA and 5 cases of systemic onset JIA. Others were 18 (24.6%) cases of juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE), 3 (5.3%) cases of joint hypermobility syndrome, 2 (3.5%) cases of juvenile systemic sclerosis, 2 (3.5%) cases of fibromyalgia, 2 (3.5%) cases of plantar fasciitis, 1 (1.6%) case of juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), 1 (1.6%) case of juvenile polymyositis-systemic lupus erythematosus (PM-SLE) overlap, 1 (1.6%) case of secondary bilateral knee osteoarthritis from Blount disease, 1 (1.6%) case of secondary osteoporosis from childhood leukemia and 1 (1.6%) case of Osgood-Schlatter's disease. Constitutional symptoms and extra-articular diseases were significantly more frequent among JCTD cases than among the JIA cases (Constitutional symptoms: 100% vs 83.3%, p = 0.003; extra-articular disease: 100% vs 10.7%, p = 0.001). The percentage mortality in this study was 10.5% while 20 (35.1%) of the patients were lost to clinic follow up.

Conclusion: The pattern of PRDs observed in this study is similar to that described in South African and North American series but it differs from patterns reported in Asian series. Although hitherto largely unrecognized, PRDs may constitute a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality in black Africans.

Keywords: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus; Nigeria; Paediatric rheumatic disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Scott C, Webb K. Paediatric rheumatology in sub-saharan africa. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2014;53:1357–8. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/ket430. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lawrence RC, Helmick CG, Arnett FC, Deyo RA, Felson DT, Giannini EH, et al. Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and selected musculoskeletal disorders in the united states. Arthritis Rheum. 1998;41:778–99. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199805)41:5<778::AID-ART4>3.0.CO;2-V. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tan JHT, Fun HS, Arkachaisri T. Paediatrics rheumatology clinic population in singapore: The kkh experience. Proc Singap Healthc. 2012;21:265–71. doi: 10.1177/201010581202100408. - DOI
    1. Shiff NJ, Lix LM, Joseph L, Duffy C, Tucker LB, Svenson LW, et al. The prevalence of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases in canadian pediatric populations: Administrative database estimates. Rheumatol Int. 2015;35:569–73. doi: 10.1007/s00296-014-3136-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rosenberg AM. Longitudinal analysis of a pediatric rheumatology clinic population. J Rheumatol. 2005;32:1992–2001. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources