Publications by authors named "Gordana Susic"

Article Synopsis
  • The article discusses a long-term study on the safety and effectiveness of etanercept, a treatment for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), in children and young adults over a span of ten years.
  • JIA is an inflammatory condition that causes joint pain and stiffness, usually diagnosed before age 16, requiring ongoing treatment until the disease is in remission.
  • The research highlights the need to evaluate the long-lasting safety of etanercept, which modulates the immune system to alleviate symptoms of arthritis.
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Objectives: CLIPPER2 was an 8-year, open-label extension of the phase 3b, 2-year CLIPPER study on the safety and efficacy of etanercept in patients with JIA, categorized as extended oligoarticular arthritis (eoJIA), enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) or PsA.

Methods: Participants with eoJIA (2-17 years old), ERA or PsA (each 12-17 years old) who received ≥1 etanercept dose (0.8 mg/kg weekly; maximum 50 mg) in CLIPPER could enter CLIPPER2.

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Objective: The aim of this work was to provide evidence of validity and reliability for 4 parent/child-reported outcome measures included in the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology juvenile idiopathic arthritis core domain set: the evaluation of the child's pain and level of disease activity, the assessment of morning stiffness duration, and an active joint count for proxy/self-assessment.

Methods: Patients were included in the multinational study Epidemiology Treatment and Outcome of Childhood Arthritis. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the correlation of the 4 tested measures with physician measures and the clinical Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score in 10 joints (cJADAS10) in the whole sample and after grouping patients by International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) category, geographic area, and education level.

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Objectives: We aimed to identify characteristics of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients associated with good self-management skills in the transition readiness process and to investigate the readiness of JIA patients and their families for the transition into the adult healthcare system.

Patients And Methods: Between March 2021 and June 2021, a total of 44 JIA patients (9 males, 35 females; median age: 15.1 years; range, 12.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to identify risk factors for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) by analyzing data from the Pharmachild register and comparing characteristics of patients with and without IBD.
  • - Out of 8,942 JIA patients, only 48 (0.54%) developed IBD, with notable differences in demographics such as being predominantly male, older at diagnosis, more likely to have a family history of autoimmune conditions, and more often associated with enthesitis-related arthritis.
  • - Key predictors for developing IBD included having enthesitis-related arthritis and a family history of autoimmune disease, while certain therapies like etanercept were linked to significantly higher rates
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Objective: Sjögren syndrome in children is a poorly understood autoimmune disease. We aimed to describe the clinical and diagnostic features of children diagnosed with Sjögren syndrome and explore how the 2016 ACR/EULAR classification criteria apply to this population.

Methods: An international workgroup retrospectively collected cases of Sjögren syndrome diagnosed under 18 years of age from 23 centres across eight nations.

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Background: To derive a list of opportunistic infections (OI) through the analysis of the juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients in the Pharmachild registry by an independent Safety Adjudication Committee (SAC).

Methods: The SAC (3 pediatric rheumatologists and 2 pediatric infectious disease specialists) elaborated and approved by consensus a provisional list of OI for use in JIA. Through a 5 step-procedure, all the severe and serious infections, classified as per MedDRA dictionary and retrieved in the Pharmachild registry, were evaluated by the SAC by answering six questions and adjudicated with the agreement of 3/5 specialists.

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Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics, treatment response and genetic findings in a large cohort of patients with undefined systemic autoinflammatory diseases (SAIDs).

Methods: Clinical and genetic data from patients with undefined SAIDs were extracted from the Eurofever registry, an international web-based registry that retrospectively collects clinical information on patients with autoinflammatory diseases.

Results: This study included 187 patients.

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Background: To describe the 6-year safety and efficacy of etanercept (ETN) in children with extended oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (eoJIA), enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) METHODS: Patients who completed the 2-year, open-label, phase III CLinical Study In Pediatric Patients of Etanercept for Treatment of ERA, PsA, and Extended Oligoarthritis (CLIPPER) were allowed to enroll in its 8-year long-term extension (CLIPPER2). Children received ETN at a once-weekly dose of 0.8 mg/kg, up to a maximum dose of 50 mg/week.

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Background: To our knowledge, the characteristics and burden of childhood arthritis have never been studied on a worldwide basis. We aimed to investigate, with a cross-sectional study, the prevalence of disease categories, treatment methods, and disease status in patients from across different geographical areas and from countries with diverse wealth status.

Methods: In this multinational, cross-sectional, observational cohort study, we asked international paediatric rheumatologists from specialised centres to enrol children with a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to International League of Associations for Rheumatology criteria, who were seen consecutively for a period of 6 months.

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Oxidative stress is believed to be of great importance for both the etiology and the persistence of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of -262C/T polymorphism of the catalase (CAT) gene with JIA, as well as to evaluate whether this polymorphism can influence plasma CAT activity and outcome in JIA patients treated with etanercept. A total of 154 subjects (60 JIA patients and 94 healthy volunteers) were screened for CAT-262C/T gene polymorphism using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.

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Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene FokI (rs2228570) polymorphism was postulated to influence outcome of several inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of rs2228570 polymorphism on lipid profile and on outcome in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) treated with etanercept. A total of 153 subjects (62 JIA patients and 91 controls) were screened for the rs2228570 using the PCR-RFLP method.

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The Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report (JAMAR) is a new parent/patient-reported outcome measure that enables a thorough assessment of the disease status in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). We report the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the parent and patient versions of the JAMAR in the Serbian language. The reading comprehension of the questionnaire was tested in 10 JIA parents and patients.

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Objective: To describe the frequency and types of disease damage occurring with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as measured by the 41-item Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI), and to assess the SDI's ability to reflect damage severity.

Methods: Information for the SDI was prospectively collected from 1,048 childhood-onset SLE patients. For a subset of 559 patients, physician-rated damage severity measured by visual analog scale (MD VAS damage) was also available.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to provide initial and follow-up findings from a 5-year examination of Blau syndrome, focusing on eye disease in patients.
  • Data were collected from 50 patients across 25 global centers, revealing that a significant majority experienced uveitis and many had moderate to severe visual impairment.
  • The findings indicate that Blau uveitis leads to progressive eye complications despite treatments, emphasizing the necessity for ongoing eye monitoring and the need for improved therapeutic options.
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Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy of casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) and casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium fluoride phosphate (CPP-ACFP) containing pastes among individuals with Sjögren's syndrome (SS).

Materials And Methods: Thirty patients were randomised into three groups: CPP-ACP, CPP-ACFP, and 0.05 % NaF to be used two times a day during a 28-day experimental period.

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Background: Rheumatic diseases in children are associated with significant morbidity and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). There is no health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scale available specifically for children with less common rheumatic diseases. These diseases share several features with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) such as their chronic episodic nature, multi-systemic involvement, and the need for immunosuppressive medications.

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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.

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Introduction: The aims of this study were to evaluate levels of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and the presence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in children with primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) in Serbia.

Materials And Methods: Self- and parent-rated data from 25 children with PID were available. As controls, data from 50 children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and 89 healthy children were included.

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Introduction: Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology, clinically manifested by dry eyes (xerophthalmia) and dry mouth (xerostomia). In childhood SS is a rare disease, clinically atypically or asymptomatic and is often unrecognized. We report a girl with asymptomatic, juvenile form of primary Sjögren's syndrome (JSS).

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Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of etanercept (ETN) in paediatric subjects with extended oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (eoJIA), enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA), or psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods: CLIPPER is an ongoing, Phase 3b, open-label, multicentre study; the 12-week (Part 1) data are reported here. Subjects with eoJIA (2-17 years), ERA (12-17 years), or PsA (12-17 years) received ETN 0.

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Introduction: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with decreased functional capacity and potentially long-term consequences. The establishment of early prognostic factors could help in the prevention of joint damage and improve the quality of life in children with JIA.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the functional status of children with JIA by using the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and to assess its ability in predicting the outcome of the disease.

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Purpose: Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are at an increased risk of developing emotional problems. This study evaluated the associations between levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in these children.

Methods: Sixty-seven children with JIA, together with one parent, participated.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the safety and effectiveness of the oral drug givinostat in treating systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in 17 patients over 12 weeks.
  • Results indicated that givinostat was generally safe, with most adverse effects being mild and resolving on their own; only three patients experienced drug-related side effects.
  • At the end of the study, a majority of participants showed significant improvements in disease symptoms, particularly in reducing the number of affected joints.
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Genetic contribution of tumor necrosis factor polymorphism (TNF-alpha-308G/A) in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) on response to TNF blocking agents, as well as matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) production, is not yet well established. We have investigated whether the TNF-alpha-308G/A polymorphism can influence MMP-9 level and clinical response to etanercept (TNF receptor II-Fc fusion protein) in JIA patients, after 1 year of treatment. A total of 66 patients with polyarticular JIA and 65 healthy children were screened for the polymorphism using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.

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