OBJECTIVE: To evaluate retrospectively the clinical features of children and adolescents with spondiloarthropathies (Sps). METHODS: The charts of all Sps patients followed up in the outpatient Pediatric Rheumatology unit of UNIFESP-EPM, were analyzed from June 1982 to April 2000. The following demographic data were evaluated: age of onset, disease duration, clinical features, laboratory data, radiological findings, treatment and outcome. RESULTS: 10 out of 26 patients (38.4%) presented SEA, 1 patient (3.8%) undifferentiated spondiloarthrophaty, 10 (38.4%) JAS, 2 (7.7%) arthropathy related to inflammatory bowel disease, 2 (7.7%) Reiter's syndrome and 1 (3.8%) psoriatic arthritis. The average age at disease onset was 9.2 years (1 to 15 years). The patients with Reiter's syndrome presented lower age at onset (average age 6.5 years). Twenty-five out of 26 were males and 15 out of 26 were caucasians. Most patients presented peripheral arthritis in lower limbs (96.1%), enthesitis (61.5%) and positive HLA-B27 (14/23 -- 60.9%). Ten patients (38.4%) presented axial involvement. Fifteen patients had JRA or RF as diagnosis in the beginning of the disease. CONCLUSION: Although less frequent than JRA, the spondiloarthropathies must be considered in the differential diagnosis of children and adolescents, mainly among male patients with chronic arthritis.
Spondyloarthropathies; Ankylosing spondylitis; Sacroiliitis; Enthesopathy; Hla-b27; Children; Adolescents
