Publications by authors named "Apaz M"
Background: Kawasaki disease (EK) is an acute systemic vasculitis with a risk of developing coronary aneurysms.
Aim: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with EK in Argentina and to analyse the risk factors for the development of coronary's complications (CC).
Methods: Multicenter, retrospective, cross-sectional, observational and analytical study.
Background: Most data for treatment of dermatomyositis and juvenile dermatomyositis are from anecdotal, non-randomised case series. We aimed to compare, in a randomised trial, the efficacy and safety of prednisone alone with that of prednisone plus either methotrexate or ciclosporin in children with new-onset juvenile dermatomyositis.
Methods: We did a randomised trial at 54 centres in 22 countries.
Objective: To compare the capacity of the 2004 diagnostic guidelines for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH-2004) with the capacity of the preliminary diagnostic guidelines for systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-associated macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) to discriminate MAS complicating systemic JIA from 2 potentially confusable conditions, represented by active systemic JIA without MAS and systemic infection.
Methods: International pediatric rheumatologists and hemato-oncologists were asked to retrospectively collect clinical information from patients with systemic JIA-associated MAS and confusable conditions. The ability of the guidelines to differentiate MAS from the control diseases was evaluated by calculating the sensitivity and specificity of each set of guidelines and the kappa statistics for concordance with the physician's diagnosis.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) v3 and the Disease Extent Index (DEI) in measuring disease activity in four main types of childhood systemic vasculitides.
- A total of 796 patients with conditions like Henoch-Schönlein purpura and polyarteritis nodosa were analyzed, revealing a strong correlation between BVAS and DEI scores, as well as their ability to reflect disease involvement.
- The findings confirm that both BVAS and DEI are reliable tools for evaluating disease activity in children with these vasculitides.
Objectives: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic inflammatory joint disease affecting children. Even if remission is successfully induced, about half of the patients experience a relapse after stopping anti-inflammatory therapy. The present study investigated whether patients with JIA at risk of relapse can be identified by biomarkers even if clinical signs of disease activity are absent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We evaluated the effect of infliximab on markers of inflammation in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
Methods: In this randomized, placebo-controlled substudy, 122 patients with JIA received infliximab 3 mg/kg + methotrexate (MTX)(n = 60) or placebo + MTX (n = 62) at weeks 0, 2, and 6. At week 14, patients receiving placebo + MTX crossed over to infliximab 6 mg/kg + MTX; patients receiving infliximab 3 mg/kg + MTX continued treatment through week 44.
Objective: To investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) change over time, as measured by the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), and its determinants in patients with active juvenile dermatomyositis (DM).
Methods: We assessed patients with juvenile DM at both baseline and 6 months of followup, and healthy children age < or =18 years. Potential determinants of poor HRQOL included demographic data, physician's and parent's global assessments, muscle strength, functional ability as measured by the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (C-HAQ), global disease activity assessments, and laboratory markers.
Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of infliximab in the treatment of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA).
Methods: This was an international, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. One hundred twenty-two children with persistent polyarticular JRA despite prior methotrexate (MTX) therapy were randomized to receive infliximab or placebo for 14 weeks, after which all children received infliximab through week 44.
Objective: To use the Pediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organization (PRINTO) core set of outcome measures to develop a validated definition of improvement for the evaluation of response to therapy in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Methods: Thirty-seven experienced pediatric rheumatologists from 27 countries, each of whom had specific experience in the assessment of juvenile SLE patients, achieved consensus on 128 patient profiles as being clinically improved or not improved. Using the physicians' consensus ratings as the gold standard measure, the chi-square, sensitivity, specificity, false-positive and false-negative rates, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and kappa level of agreement for 597 candidate definitions of improvement were calculated.
Objective: Juvenile localized scleroderma is usually considered a disease that is confined to the skin and subcutaneous tissue. We studied the prevalence and clinical features of extracutaneous manifestations in a large cohort of children with juvenile localized scleroderma.
Methods: Data from a multinational study on juvenile scleroderma was used for this in-depth study.