Autoinflammatory diseases: a Latin American multicenter study according to age and sex

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate autoinflammatory diseases (AID) according to age at diagnosis and sex, and response to therapy in a large population. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observational study of a Latin American registry using a designed web system for data storage, collected between 2015 and 2018. Any altered findings during follow-up were recorded. The forms were translated into Portuguese and Spanish, including demographic, clinical, laboratory, genetic and treatment characteristics. RESULTS: We included 152 patients, 51.3% male and 75% Caucasian. The median age at disease onset was 2.1 years (0–15.6 years) and median age at diagnosis 6.9 years (0–21.9 years); 111 (73%) were children (0–9 years old), and 41 (27%) were adolescents and young adults (AYA) (10–21 years old). Periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis syndrome (PFAPA) occurred in 46/152 (30%), chronic non-bacterial osteomyelitis (CNO) in 32/152 (21%), and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) in 24/152 (15.7%). PFAPA was significantly higher in young children than in AYA (38.7% vs. 7.3%, p<0.001), while CNO were lower (13.5% vs. 41.5%, p<0.001). The frequency of females was significantly higher in CNO (28.4% vs. 14.1%, p=0.031) and lower in FMF (8.1% vs. 23.1%, p=0.011). The most used drugs were glucocorticoids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), and colchicine. Glucocorticoids and colchicine treatment were used in all AID with good to moderate response. However, cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS) seemed unresponsive to glucocorticoids. NSAIDs and methotrexate were the main medications used to treat CNO. CONCLUSIONS: Differences among AID patients were observed in the LA population regarding sex and age at disease diagnosis.