Juvenile spondyloarthropathies: the Chinese experience.

By the definition proposed by Burgos-Vargas [1,2], juvenile spondyloarthropathy (JSpA) represents a heterogeneous group of HLA-B27-associated inflammatory syndromes that affect children and adolescents under the age of 16 years and produce a continuum of clinical symptoms into adulthood. This disease group includes the seronegative enthesopathy and arthropathy (SEA) syndrome, juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis (JAS), ankylosing tarsitis, reactive arthritis (ReA), arthropathies associated with inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, and HLA-B27-related juvenile onset psoriatic arthritis [1,2]. JSpA is distinct from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Their pathogenesis, association with HLA-B27 and bacterial infections, radiological and clinical manifestation of the pathological lesions, and treatment response resemble those of the adult-onset spondyloarthropathies (SpA); however, unlike adult SpA, there is a higher prevalence of peripheral arthritis/enthesitis and a lower prevalence of axial symptoms.