Comparison of capillary finger stick and venous blood sampling for 34 routine chemistry analytes: potential for in hospital and remote blood sampling.

Objectives: This study examined the comparability of venous and capillary blood samples with regard to routine chemistry analytes.

Methods: Venous and capillary blood samples were collected from adult patients to assess comparability of alanine transaminase, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, apolipoprotein B, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, calcium, chloride, creatin kinase, creatinine, C-reactive protein, ferritin, folic acid, free T4, gamma glutamyltransferase, glucose, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, iron, lipase, lipoprotein a, magnesium, phosphate, postassium, prostate specific antigen, sodium, total cholesterol, total protein, transferrin, triglycerides, thyroid stimulating hormone, urate, urea, vitamin B12 and 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3. Furthermore, hemolysis-icterus-lipemia Index (HIL-Index) was measured for all samples.

Adherence to low-dose methotrexate in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis using a sensitive methotrexate assay.

Background: Low-dose weekly methotrexate (MTX) is the mainstay of treatment in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Unfortunately, a substantial part of patients has insufficient efficacy of MTX. A potential cause of this inadequate response is suboptimal drug adherence.

Humoral and cellular immunogenicity, effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in patients with pediatric rheumatic diseases: A prospective cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate immunogenicity, effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with pediatric autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease (pedAIIRD).

Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed at the pediatric rheumatology department of the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Vaccination dates, COVID-19 cases and vaccine-related adverse events (AEs) were registered for all pedAIIRD patients during regular clinic visits from March 2021 - August 2022.

Quantifying hospital-associated costs, and accompanying travel costs and productivity losses, before and after withdrawing TNF-α inhibitors in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Objective: To quantify differences in hospital-associated costs, and accompanying travel costs and productivity losses, before and after withdrawing TNF-α inhibitors (TNFi) in JIA patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from electronic medical records of paediatric JIA patients treated with TNFi, which were immediately discontinued, spaced (increased treatment interval) or tapered (reduced subsequent doses). Costs of hospital-associated resource use (consultations, medication, radiology procedures, laboratory testing, procedures under general anaesthesia, hospitalization) and associated travel costs and productivity losses were quantified during clinically inactive disease until TNFi withdrawal (pre-withdrawal period) and compared with costs during the first and second year after withdrawal initiation (first and second year post-withdrawal).

Long-term immunoprotection after live attenuated measles-mumps-rubella booster vaccination in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Introduction: Vaccines, especially live attenuated vaccines, in children with JIA pose a great challenge due to both potential lower immunogenicity and safety as a result of immunosuppressive treatment. For many years, in the Netherlands, JIA patients receive a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) booster vaccine at the age of nine years as part of the national immunization program.

Objectives: To study long-term humoral immunoprotection in a large cohort of JIA patients who received the MMR booster vaccine while being treated with immunomodulatory therapies at the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands.