A survey of national and multi-national registries and cohort studies in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Challenges and opportunities

Background: To characterize the existing national and multi-national registries and cohort studies in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and identify differences as well as areas of potential future collaboration. Methods: We surveyed investigators from North America, Europe, and Australia about existing JIA cohort studies and registries. We excluded cross-sectional studies. We captured information about study design, duration, location, inclusion criteria, data elements and collection methods. Results: We received survey results from 18 studies, including 11 national and 7 multi-national studies representing 37 countries in total. Study designs included inception cohorts, prevalent disease cohorts, and new treatment cohorts (several of which contribute to pharmacosurveillance activities). Despite numerous differences, the data elements collected across the studies was quite similar, with most studies collecting at least 5 of the 6 American College of Rheumatology core set variables and the data needed to calculate the 3-variable clinical juvenile disease activity score. Most studies were collecting medication initiation and discontinuation dates and were attempting to capture serious adverse events. Conclusion: There is a wide-range of large, ongoing JIA registries and cohort studies around the world. Our survey results indicate significant potential for future collaborative work using data from different studies and both combined and comparative analyses

Safety and Effectiveness of Adalimumab in Patients With Polyarticular Course of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: STRIVE Registry Seven-Year Interim Results

Objective To evaluate safety and effectiveness of adalimumab (ADA) in polyarticular-course juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in the STRIVE registry. Methods STRIVE enrolled patients with polyarticular-course JIA into 2 arms based on treatment with methotrexate (MTX) alone or ADA with/without MTX (ADA +/- MTX). Adverse events (AEs) per 100 patient-years of observation time were analyzed by registry arm. Patients who entered the registry within 4 weeks of starting MTX or ADA +/- MTX, defined as new users, were evaluated for change in disease activity assessed by the 27-joint Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score with the C-reactive protein level (JADAS-27(CRP)). Results At the 7-year cutoff date (June 1, 2016), data from 838 patients were available (MTX arm n = 301, ADA +/- MTX arm n = 537). The most common AEs were nausea (10.3%), sinusitis (4.7%), and vomiting (4.3%) in the MTX arm and arthritis (3.9%), upper respiratory tract infection (3.5%), sinusitis, tonsillitis, and injection site pain (3.0% each) in the ADA +/- MTX arm. Rates of serious infection were 1.5 events/100 patient-years in the MTX arm and 2.0 events/100 patient-years in the ADA +/- MTX arm. AE and serious AE rates were similar in patients receiving ADA with versus without MTX. No deaths or malignancies were reported. New users in the ADA +/- MTX arm showed a trend toward lower mean JADAS-27(CRP)compared with new users in the MTX arm in the first year of STRIVE. Conclusion The STRIVE registry 7-year interim results support the idea that ADA +/- MTX is well tolerated by most children. Registry median ADA exposure was 2.47 (interquartile range 1.0-3.6) years, with 42% of patients continuing ADA at the 7-year cutoff date

An amino acid motif in HLA-DRβ1 distinguishes patients with uveitis in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Uveitis is a visually-debilitating disorder that affects up to 30% of children with the most common forms of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The disease mechanisms predisposing only a subgroup of children to uveitis are unknown. To identify genetic susceptibility loci for uveitis in JIA, we conducted a genome-wide association study totalling 522 JIA cases.status: accepte