The purpose of our retrospective study was to determine the longterm articular prognosis in patients with pauciarticular onset juvenile arthritis (JA) with and without uveitis.
Twenty-nine patients with pauciarticular onset JA with uveitis were compared to 86 without uveitis, matched for sex, age at disease onset, and duration of followup. All patients had a minimum followup of 6 years from disease onset. The outcome of arthritis was evaluated by: (1) progression to polyarticular disease; (2) hip involvement; (3) radiographic evidence of articular erosions; (4) significant functional disability at the last visit.
There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in the severity variables considered, single or combined.
Our data suggest that the presence of uveitis does not influence the longterm articular prognosis in pauciarticular onset JA.