Nutritional Status and Clinical Characteristics in Children with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and nutritional status of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) in Taiwanese children. METHODS: Fifty-three patients were included in this study. The disease subtype and patient characteristics were recorded. Body mass index (BMI) was determined. Seventy-five healthy age-matched children served as a control group. RESULTS: The inflammation parameters, including white blood cell count, platelet count, C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, were elevated in the systemic group. The BMI level of the JRA group was significantly lower than the control group (p = 0.006), especially in the male patients( p = 0.016) and when the patient age was greater than 4 (p = 0.011). The patients with oligoarticular onset J RA had significantly lower BMI compared with the healthy control group (p = 0 .012). CONCLUSION: Nutritional status is often impaired in patients with JRA. The BMI of the JRA patients was lower than that of age-matched healthy children, especially in the male group, and when disease onset age was greater than 4. In our unselected sample, the most affected disease subtype was oligoarticular onset JRA