Juvenile arthritis and the short-term risk for cardiometabolic outcomes

Chronic inflammatory state is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis and resultant cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the long run. The magnitude of the risk for CVD in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) needs more research. We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study to investigate the association of JIA and its anti-rheumatic therapy and subsequent cardiometabolic outcomes. Cox model was adopted to derive adjusted hazard ratios (aHR). We found that children with JIA (n = 2,399) harbors an increased risk for extracranial non-coronary arterial disorders with an aHR at 2.77 (95% confidence interval, 1.38-5.54, p < 0.004) than subjects without JIA (n = 11,456) after a mean follow-up duration of 6.53 (±1.22) years. This study also found elevated risks for dyslipidemia (aHR 1.69, 1.13 - 2.54), adolescent diabetes (2.06, 1.17 - 3.62) and gout (2.94, 2.13 - 4.04) in children with JIA compared to non-JIA cohort. The risk for gout was elevated in every group of the JIA cohort with the greatest risk at 6.42 (2.61 - 15.75) in children who received anti-TNF. With this short follow-up period, there were no increased risks for clinically evident myocarditis, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, or cerebrovascular disease.