Abstract            Volume:4  Issue-5  Year-2016         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic rheumatic disease affecting children worldwide. Yet the association of JIA and autoimmune diseases had not been studied extensively. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of DAS28 score as screening tool for autoimmune thyroid diseases and celiac disease associated with JIA. Ninety seven children fulfilled the criteria for diagnosis of JIA according to classification criteria of the International League of Association for Rheumatology (1)were recruited in the study. Controls; 97 patients, were age and sex matched. Key determinants of disease activity score 28 (DAS28) were examined. Thyroid function tests (TSH, fT4 and fT3), serum total IgA, tissue transglutaminase antibodies, thyroperoxidase antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies have been studied. Fourteen cases (14.5%) in JIA group were suffering from autoimmune thyroiditis, two (2.1%) of them had subclinical hypothyroidism, while it was present only in 1 case (1%)of the control group. Celiac disease was associated with JIA in 4 cases (4.1%).The sensitivity of DAS28 score 6.1 or more for screening for autoimmune thyroiditis and celiac disease was 89.5% in case of oligoarthritis and 88.8% for polyarthritis. On the other hand specificity was 80.9% for oligoarthritis and 76.0% for polyarthritis. The negative predictive value was 94.4% for oligoarthritis and 95% for polyarthritis. DAS28 score 6.1 or more is a valid tool for screening of autoimmune thyroid diseases and celiac disease associated with JIA. A large sample size study should be conducted to verify our results.

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