Innovations and Challenges by Applying Sublingual Laser Blood Irradiation in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Table 1
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the JIA patients at the initiation of the study.
Characteristics
Group I ( = 36)
Group II ( = 36)
Group III ( = 33)
Statistical significance
Subtype JIA
RF negative polyarthritis—number (%)
11 (30.55)
11 (30.55)
10 (30.30)
[NS]
RF positive polyarthritis—number (%)
7 (19.44)
9 (25.00)
6 (18.18)
[NS]
Enthesitis-related arthritis—number (%)
9 (25.00)
8 (22.22)
6 (18.18)
[NS]
Oligoextensive—number (%)
8 (22.22)
7 (19.44)
10 (30.30)
[NS]
Psoriatic arthritis—number (%)
1 (2.77)
1 (2.77)
1 (3.03)
[NS]
Female sex—number (%)
19 (52.77)
17 (47.22)
18 (54.54)
[NS]
Age—yrs
10.0 ± 4.3
10.6 ± 4.4
10.0 ± 4.1
[NS]
Weight—kg
32.7 ± 15.6
31.8 ± 15.8
31.9 ± 16.1
[NS]
Duration of disease—yrs
3.1 ± 2.0
3.2 ± 2.3
3.2 ± 1.0
[NS]
Prior use of DMARDs (mean dose)
Methotrexate (mg/wk)
18.4 ± 2.1
18.2 ± 2.1
18.9 ± 2.0
[NS]
Sulfasalazine (g/day)
1.0 ± 0.5
1.2 ± 0.50
1.0 ± 0.25
[NS]
Hydroxychloroquine (mg/day)
200 ± 0.5
190 ± 0.5
200 ± 0.5
[NS]
Oral glucocorticoid (mg/kg/day)*
0.49 ± 0.18
0.49 ± 0.19
0.49 ± 0.17
[NS]
NS: nonsignificant difference between the groups, value ≥ 0.05. SD: standard deviation. RF: rheumatoid factor. *For each oral glucocorticoid used, the prednisone equivalent was calculated.
