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Joint Manifestations in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in Armenia: Clinical and Genetic Characteristics

Received: 13 March 2021    Accepted: 6 April 2021    Published: 16 April 2021
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Abstract

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal-recessive autoinflammatory disease in the group of Hereditary periodic fever syndromes (HPFS), characterized by recurrent, self-limited attacks of fever and polyserositis, which last 2-4 days. It manifests mainly in childhood and often has early onset, resolve without sequels. Genetic testing of FMF is efficient and allows diagnosing of atypical cases. FMF is a significant health care problem in Armenia because of high frequency of carriers of MEFV mutations 1:3 - 4 (0.21) and marked FMF prevalence 54.7 per 10`000 of the total population. Articular symptoms are found in about 45% of cases. They usually manifest as acute recurrent arthritis (ARA) or arthralgia, but more rarely also chronic arthritis can be found. We aimed to investigate clinical and genetic characteristics of the joint manifestations in Armenian children with FMF. The charts of all 715 patients with proven diagnosis of FMF at the National Pediatric Center (NPC) for FMF were reviewed for joint manifestations. The diagnosis of FMF and disease severity were determined according to the Tel-Hashomer criteria and molecular-genetic detection of 12 MEFV mutations common for Armenians. The characteristics of joint manifestations and overall FMF disease were then compared to MEFV mutation analysis. There were 438 boys and 277 girls with an age at diagnosis between 3 months and 17 years (mean age: 8.64±0.17). Joint involvement was observed in 56.4% of all 715 cases. The manifestation was ARA in 30.5%, arthralgia in 21.2% and chronic arthritis (CA) in 4.7%, which would also qualify for a diagnosis of JIA. The frequency of ARA was associated with M694V mutation, mainly M694V homozygous and M694V heterozygous genotypes. The risk of CA depended on MEFV genotype of the FMF patients and was the highest in M694Vheterozygotes and M694Vhomozygotes. M694V heterozygous genotype was noticed significantly more frequently among FMF patients with spondyloarthritis in comparison to those without it. The probability of the development of CA among FMF patients without M694V mutation was significantly higher also in heterozygotes in comparison to compound-heterozygotes. We concluded, that the frequency of joint involvement among Armenian pediatric FMF patients was high - 56.4%, especially for CA. Chronic arthritis may be the first manifestation of FMF and occurred usually in patients with severe M694V mutations. Patients of Armenian origin with refractory arthritis should be asked for isolated febrile attacks, hemorrhagic vasculitis, episodes of pleuritis and family history to rule out FMF.

Published in International Journal of Immunology (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11
Page(s) 22-28
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Familial Mediterranean Fever, Children, Joint Manifestations, Clinical and Genetic Characteristics

References
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[11] Avagyan T, Amaryan G, Hayrapetyan H, Budumyan A, Tadevosyan A Population based study of frequency of carrying FMF mutation among Armenian females; Pediatric Rheumatology, 2017, 15 (Suppl 2): 64, DOI 10.1186/s12969-017-0185-x.
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[23] Kasifoglu T, Çalısır C, Cansu DÜ, Korkmaz C. The frequency of sacroiliitis in Familial Mediterranean Fever and the role of HLA-B27 and MEFV mutations in the development of sacroiliitis. Clin Rheumatol 2009; 28: 41–6.
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    Gayane Amaryan, Gayane Khloyan, Tamara Sarkisian, Artashes Tadevosyan, Rotraud Katharina Saurenmann. (2021). Joint Manifestations in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in Armenia: Clinical and Genetic Characteristics. International Journal of Immunology, 9(2), 22-28. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11

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    ACS Style

    Gayane Amaryan; Gayane Khloyan; Tamara Sarkisian; Artashes Tadevosyan; Rotraud Katharina Saurenmann. Joint Manifestations in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in Armenia: Clinical and Genetic Characteristics. Int. J. Immunol. 2021, 9(2), 22-28. doi: 10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11

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    AMA Style

    Gayane Amaryan, Gayane Khloyan, Tamara Sarkisian, Artashes Tadevosyan, Rotraud Katharina Saurenmann. Joint Manifestations in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in Armenia: Clinical and Genetic Characteristics. Int J Immunol. 2021;9(2):22-28. doi: 10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11,
      author = {Gayane Amaryan and Gayane Khloyan and Tamara Sarkisian and Artashes Tadevosyan and Rotraud Katharina Saurenmann},
      title = {Joint Manifestations in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in Armenia: Clinical and Genetic Characteristics},
      journal = {International Journal of Immunology},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {22-28},
      doi = {10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.iji.20210902.11},
      abstract = {Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal-recessive autoinflammatory disease in the group of Hereditary periodic fever syndromes (HPFS), characterized by recurrent, self-limited attacks of fever and polyserositis, which last 2-4 days. It manifests mainly in childhood and often has early onset, resolve without sequels. Genetic testing of FMF is efficient and allows diagnosing of atypical cases. FMF is a significant health care problem in Armenia because of high frequency of carriers of MEFV mutations 1:3 - 4 (0.21) and marked FMF prevalence 54.7 per 10`000 of the total population. Articular symptoms are found in about 45% of cases. They usually manifest as acute recurrent arthritis (ARA) or arthralgia, but more rarely also chronic arthritis can be found. We aimed to investigate clinical and genetic characteristics of the joint manifestations in Armenian children with FMF. The charts of all 715 patients with proven diagnosis of FMF at the National Pediatric Center (NPC) for FMF were reviewed for joint manifestations. The diagnosis of FMF and disease severity were determined according to the Tel-Hashomer criteria and molecular-genetic detection of 12 MEFV mutations common for Armenians. The characteristics of joint manifestations and overall FMF disease were then compared to MEFV mutation analysis. There were 438 boys and 277 girls with an age at diagnosis between 3 months and 17 years (mean age: 8.64±0.17). Joint involvement was observed in 56.4% of all 715 cases. The manifestation was ARA in 30.5%, arthralgia in 21.2% and chronic arthritis (CA) in 4.7%, which would also qualify for a diagnosis of JIA. The frequency of ARA was associated with M694V mutation, mainly M694V homozygous and M694V heterozygous genotypes. The risk of CA depended on MEFV genotype of the FMF patients and was the highest in M694Vheterozygotes and M694Vhomozygotes. M694V heterozygous genotype was noticed significantly more frequently among FMF patients with spondyloarthritis in comparison to those without it. The probability of the development of CA among FMF patients without M694V mutation was significantly higher also in heterozygotes in comparison to compound-heterozygotes. We concluded, that the frequency of joint involvement among Armenian pediatric FMF patients was high - 56.4%, especially for CA. Chronic arthritis may be the first manifestation of FMF and occurred usually in patients with severe M694V mutations. Patients of Armenian origin with refractory arthritis should be asked for isolated febrile attacks, hemorrhagic vasculitis, episodes of pleuritis and family history to rule out FMF.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Joint Manifestations in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in Armenia: Clinical and Genetic Characteristics
    AU  - Gayane Amaryan
    AU  - Gayane Khloyan
    AU  - Tamara Sarkisian
    AU  - Artashes Tadevosyan
    AU  - Rotraud Katharina Saurenmann
    Y1  - 2021/04/16
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11
    T2  - International Journal of Immunology
    JF  - International Journal of Immunology
    JO  - International Journal of Immunology
    SP  - 22
    EP  - 28
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2329-1753
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.iji.20210902.11
    AB  - Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal-recessive autoinflammatory disease in the group of Hereditary periodic fever syndromes (HPFS), characterized by recurrent, self-limited attacks of fever and polyserositis, which last 2-4 days. It manifests mainly in childhood and often has early onset, resolve without sequels. Genetic testing of FMF is efficient and allows diagnosing of atypical cases. FMF is a significant health care problem in Armenia because of high frequency of carriers of MEFV mutations 1:3 - 4 (0.21) and marked FMF prevalence 54.7 per 10`000 of the total population. Articular symptoms are found in about 45% of cases. They usually manifest as acute recurrent arthritis (ARA) or arthralgia, but more rarely also chronic arthritis can be found. We aimed to investigate clinical and genetic characteristics of the joint manifestations in Armenian children with FMF. The charts of all 715 patients with proven diagnosis of FMF at the National Pediatric Center (NPC) for FMF were reviewed for joint manifestations. The diagnosis of FMF and disease severity were determined according to the Tel-Hashomer criteria and molecular-genetic detection of 12 MEFV mutations common for Armenians. The characteristics of joint manifestations and overall FMF disease were then compared to MEFV mutation analysis. There were 438 boys and 277 girls with an age at diagnosis between 3 months and 17 years (mean age: 8.64±0.17). Joint involvement was observed in 56.4% of all 715 cases. The manifestation was ARA in 30.5%, arthralgia in 21.2% and chronic arthritis (CA) in 4.7%, which would also qualify for a diagnosis of JIA. The frequency of ARA was associated with M694V mutation, mainly M694V homozygous and M694V heterozygous genotypes. The risk of CA depended on MEFV genotype of the FMF patients and was the highest in M694Vheterozygotes and M694Vhomozygotes. M694V heterozygous genotype was noticed significantly more frequently among FMF patients with spondyloarthritis in comparison to those without it. The probability of the development of CA among FMF patients without M694V mutation was significantly higher also in heterozygotes in comparison to compound-heterozygotes. We concluded, that the frequency of joint involvement among Armenian pediatric FMF patients was high - 56.4%, especially for CA. Chronic arthritis may be the first manifestation of FMF and occurred usually in patients with severe M694V mutations. Patients of Armenian origin with refractory arthritis should be asked for isolated febrile attacks, hemorrhagic vasculitis, episodes of pleuritis and family history to rule out FMF.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • National Pediatric Centre for Familial Mediterranean Fever of “Arabkir” Medical Complex - Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics N 2 of Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia

  • Rheumatology Service of “Arabkir” Medical Complex - Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, Yerevan, Armenia

  • Centre of Medical Genetics and Primary Health Care

  • Department of Public Health and Healthcare Organization of Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia

  • Department of Child and Adolescent Medicine, Kantonsspital Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

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