Table 1 Demographic data and clinical characteristics of 71 JIA patients with delayed* or normal† growth before the initiation of anti‐TNF treatment.
| Variable | Growth velocity during the two years before anti‐TNF treatment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Delayed* (n = 53) | Normal† (n = 18) | p Value | |
| Sex: female/male | 38/15 (72/28%) | 15/3 (83/17%) | NS |
| Type of JIA | |||
| Seronegative polyarthritis | 34 (64%) | 11 (61%) | NS |
| Extended oligoarthritis | 13 (24%) | 6 (33%) | NS |
| Systemic arthritis | 2 (4%) | 0 | NS |
| Enthesitis related arthritis | 2 (4%) | 0 | NS |
| Seropositive polyarthritis | 2 (4%) | 1 (6%) | NS |
| Psoriatic arthritis | 0 | 0 | NS |
| ANA‐Ab elevated | 23 (43%) | 8 (44%) | NS |
| HLA‐B27 present | 22 (42%) | 5 (28%) | NS |
| Age at the onset of JIA (years) | 4.0 (0.8 to 13.3) | 3.4 (1.1 to 9.7) | NS |
| Duration of JIA (years) | 5.8 (0.3 to 13.7) | 5.5 (1.3 to 12.6) | 0.096 |
| Age at initiation of TNF inhibitor (years) | 9.9 (3.0 to 14.7) | 8.9 (4.7 to 14.5) | NS |
| Measures of disease activity at initiation of TNF inhibitor | |||
| ESR (mm/h) | 33 (3 to 98) | 30 (7 to 65) | 0.051 |
| C reactive protein (mg/l) | 23 (5 to 92) | 23 (5 to 105) | NS |
| Number of active joints | 9 (0 to 31) | 12 (2 to 47) | 0.110 |
Values are n (%) or mean (range).
*Delayed growth: ΔHSDS <0.
†Normal growth: ΔHSDS ⩾0.
ANA‐ab, antinuclear antigen antibody; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; HSDS, height standard deviation score; JIA, juvenile idiopathic arthritis; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.