Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common
autoimmune musculoskeletal disease in children. The spectrum of patients'
profile of JIA showed many similarities and differences among different
populations. Therefore, our study aimed to analyze the clinical data,
laboratory data, treatment protocols and patient's outcomes of JIA among
Egyptian population. Methods: We checked and analyzed medical files of
children with JIA followed up at pediatric rheumatology clinic between
2004-2010 at Alexandria Main Children Hospital. Results: Our study
included data about 63 Egyptian JIA patients (33 males and 30 females),
with a mean age of 7.3±3.1 years (range 3-16 years). We found that
oligoarticular subtype was the predominant (41.2%) among cases followed
by polyarticular (35%) then systemic onset type in (23.8%). Most of the
patients lived in rural areas (57.1%). Clinically, knee joints (74.6%) were
the most affected joints while pallor (42.9%) was main extra-articular
manifestations (42.2%) among all subtypes. Uveitis (6.3%) manifested
among oligoarticular and polyarticular subtypes only. Rheumatoid factor
and anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) were positive among 69.8% and 20.6% of
the studied cases respectively. Remission rate was 47.6% and occurred
mostly in oligoarticular subtype. Also, the regimen of combination of two
drugs showed the highest remission rate (39.8%). Conclusion: The pattern
of JIA among Egyptian children showed predominance of oligoarticular
subtype specially at rural areas which differed from Western and Gulf
countries pattern.