Plasma lipids and lipoproteins in juvenile chronic arthritis

Summary

Altered levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), and very-low density lipoprotein (VLDL), as well as apolipoproteins have been previously described in rheumatoid arthritis patients. We have attempted to evaluate the serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, cholesterol in DHL, LDL, apolipoprotein A1 (apo-A1) and apolipoprotein B (apo-B) levels in juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) and to correlate them with CRP and ESR in the active and non-active stages of JCA. A total of 37 children who fulfilled ARA criteria for the diagnosis of JCA were studied. There were 18 girls and 19 boys. Age range was 2.5–16 years with a mean of 9.5. The mean duration of disease was 1.8 years. Nineteen patients were accepted to have active disease. Eighteen age and sex matched healty children served as controls. Apo-A1 was significantly lower in the active JCA group when compared to inactive patients and healthy controls (both p<0.05). There were significant inverse correlations between apo-A1 and both ESR and CRP levels in these patients (r=0.67, p<0.05 and r=−0.61, p<0.–05, respectively). Although mean LDL levels were numerically lower in the JCA patients (67.2 mg/dl in the active and 68.6 mg/dl in the inactive patients) the difference with healthy controls (91.7 mg/dl) was not statistically significant. There was no significant differences in regard to triglyceride, total cholesterol, cholesterol in HDL, and apo-B levels between neither of the groups. We conclude that JCA patients have a dyslipoproteinaemic state with already altered metabolism of lipids at different stages of the chronic inflammation from active to inactive disease.