To evaluate lung function in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients.
This was a case control study carried out at Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education & Research, Kolkata, involving JIA patients between 5 and 12 y. They were diagnosed and classified on the basis of International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria and compared with same number of age, sex, height and weight matched controls. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), FEV1/FVC ratio, forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of vital capacity (FEF25-75%) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) of cases were compared to those of matched controls.
Among 36 JIA patients initially recruited, 9 were excluded. Of the remaining 27 patients, male: female ratio was 17:10. Mean age, height and weight of JIA patients were 9.15 y, 124.67 cm and 23.78 kg respectively. Six patients had oligoarthritis, 3 had rheumatoid factor positive (RF+) polyarthritis, 10 had rheumatoid factor negative (RF-) polyarthritis and 8 had systemic JIA. Eleven patients had active disease and 15 patients required methotrexate. None had respiratory symptoms. Mean duration of the disease was 2.96 y. Mean FVC and FEV1 were significantly less in JIA patients compared to controls (p value=0.0003 and 0.0007, respectively). FEV1/FVC in both the groups was similar (p value=0.96). Mean Z scores for FVC and FEV1 were significantly higher in JIA patients (p value=0.0064 and 0.0030, respectively).
Spirometry in JIA patients demonstrated statistically significant restrictive pattern of alteration in pulmonary function.