Clinical characteristics of patients with polyarteritis nodosa / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with polyarteritis nodosa (PAN),and to improve the understanding of the disease.Methods The data of 65 consecutive PAN patients admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from October 2001 to March 2013 were analyzed.Patients were divided into two groups based on hapatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) status.Chi-square test,Fisher exact probability,t test and Mann-Whitney test were used for statistical analysis.Results The male/female ratio of patients with PAN was 1.3/1,and the average age was (37.6±1.6) years old.Fever (in 40 cases,62％) was the most frequent manifestation.Skin was involved in 51 cases (79％),urologic involvement in 44 cases (68％),peripheral nervous system involvement in 22 cases (34％) and gastrointestinal involvement in 21 cases (32％).Forty-six (71％) patients had high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) elevation and 11 (17％) patients had eosinophil count elevation.The most common vascular involvements were limb arteries in 22 cases (34％),renal artery in 19 cases (29％),and gastrointestinal artery in 17 cases (26％).Patients with negative HBsAg had more frequent arthralgia or arthritis(41％ vs 9％,x2=4.00,P＜0.05),more indicators of poor prognosis (30％ vs 0,P＜0.05) and more glucocorticoid pulse therapy (30％ vs 0,P＜0.05) when compared with patients with positive HBsAg.Conclusion Clinical manifestations of PAN are complex.Young patients with fever of unknown origin,rash,weight loss,myalgias,accompanied by symptoms of multi-organ damage including urologic,peripheral nervous system,gastrointestinal involvement and negative autoantibodies should be highly suspected for the diagnosis of PAN.For the treatment of patients with positive HBsAg,special attention should be paid to maintain the delicate balance between controlling the organ damage caused by PAN and prevention of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection reactivation.