Treatment with secukinumab helps reduce symptoms and disease activity in Chinese children with enthesitis-related arthritis, as shown in a retrospective study.
The study included 31 Chinese paediatric patients (77.4 percent male) with enthesitis-related arthritis (41.9 percent had HLA-B27 positivity) and treated with secukinumab for at least 3 months in routine clinical practice.
The primary outcomes were the proportion of patients achieving a 30-percent, 50-percent, 70-percent, 90-percent, or 100-percent improvement based on the Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis American College of Rheumatology (JIA-ACR) response criteria, as well as ACR inactive disease and change in Juvenile Spondyloarthritis Disease Activity (JSpADA) Index from baseline. Secondary outcomes included changes in the number of joints with active arthritis and enthesitis, C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Outcomes were assessed every 3 months after secukinumab initiation.
Over a median follow-up of 0.9 years, JIA-ACR 30/50/70/90/100 response occurred in 87 percent, 68 percent, 65 percent, 32.3 percent, and 12.9 percent of patients, respectively. There were 25.8 percent who achieved ACR inactive disease.
Median JSpADA scores dropped from 5 at baseline to 3.5 at month 3, 3 at month 6, 3 at month 9, and 2.5 at month 12. The mean active joint count decreased from 9.3 at baseline to 3.3 at 12 months.
Concentrations of C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate normalized.