Profile of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis in Guinea

Introduction: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is the most common rheumatoid disease in children. In Sub-Saharan Africa, little data is available on the prevalence of JIA. The objective of our study was to determine the frequency and describe the clinical profile of JIA in Guinean children seen at the Department of Neurology, Academic Hospital, University of Conakry (Guinea). Patients and Method: This was a retrospective study carried out at the Ignace Deen Academic Hospital, Conakry between January 2016 and December 2018. Patients were recruited through the Rheumatology and Paediatrics Department. Results: We collected forty (40) observations of JIA in 22 girls (55%) and 18 boys (45%). The median age at diagnosis was 14 years (range 7 - 18 years), compared to 7 years at onset (range 5 and 13 years). There were 3 cases of systemic arthritis (7.5%), 16 (40%) patients with persistent oligoarthritis, 3 patients (7.5%) that had extensive oligoarthritis, polyarthritis with positive RF in 8 cases (20%) and with negative RF in 4 cases (10%), psoriatic arthritis in 3 cases (7.5%), and enthesitis related arthritis in 2 cases (5%). There was one case of undifferentiated arthritis. A total of 23 (57.5%) received methotrexate, 9 (22.5%) were treated with salazopyrin. Conclusion: The profile of JIA in our study is different from that described in African studies with a predominance of oligoarticular JIA.