To study the serum lipid profile in children with different subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) during active and remission stages, as well as the long-term risk of atherosclerosis in children with JIA.
A total of 128 children newly diagnosed with active JIA were divided into oligoarticular JIA group with 48 children, polyarticular JIA group with 38 children, systemic JIA group with 22 children, and enthesitis-related JIA group with 20 children. According to the presence or absence of rheumatoid factor (RF), the polyarticular JIA group was further divided into RF-positive polyarticular JIA group with 15 children and RF-negative polyarticular JIA group with 23 children. A total of 45 children who underwent physical examination were randomly selected as healthy control group. The serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured and compared between groups. Blood lipid parameters were reexamined for 87 children in the remission stage after treatment and were compared with those in the active stage.
Compared with the healthy control group, the systemic JIA group and the RF-positive polyarticular JIA group had a significant reduction in HDL-C and a significant increase in TG (P<0.05) in the active stage, while there were no significant differences in TC and LDL-C (P>0.05). There were no significant differences in blood lipid parameters between the other subtype JIA groups and the healthy control group (P>0.05). The RF-positive polyarticular JIA group had a significant increase in plasma HDL-C from the active stage to the remission stage (P<0.05), while the other subtype JIA groups had no significant changes in blood lipid parameters (P>0.05).
Dyslipidemia may be observed in the active stage of children with systemic and RF-positive polyarticular JIA, with improvement in the remission stage of children with RF-positive polyarticular JIA. Further studies are needed to observe the long-term risk of atherosclerosis.