Childhood systemic lupus erythematosus in Latin America. The GLADEL experience in 230 children.

To evaluate disease characteristics of childhood onset SLE in Latin America and to compare this information with an adult population in the same cohort of GLADEL. A protocol was designed as a multicenter, multinational, inception cohort of lupus patients to evaluate demographic, clinical, laboratory and serological variables, as well as classification criteria, disease activity, organ damage and mortality. Descriptive statistics, chi square, Fisher's exact test, Student's t test and multiple logistic regression were used to compare childhood and adult onset SLE.

Validation and crosscultural adaptation of an argentine spanish version of the health assessment questionnaire disability index.

Background: The Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) is one of the most frequently used instruments to assess functional capacity in activities of daily living.

Objective: The objective of our study was to determine the reproducibility and validity of an Argentinean version of the HAQ disability index (HAQ-DI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Consecutive adult patients with RA from 3 different provinces in Argentina were included.