Pôster:

Juvenile Idiophatic Arthritis (JIA) is the most prevalent cause of chronic arthritis in childhood. Both genetic and environmental factors influence JIA incidence and outcomes. Our aim was to evaluate the relation between tobacco exposure and JIA.

Materials and methods

Data from 89 JIA outpatients followed in two public hospitals from Fortaleza-CE were compared to that from 85 controls. Chi-square was used to compare maternal and familiar smoking between patients and controls. Any child with a smoking family member (including mother) living in the same household was categorized as familiar smoking. Protocol was approved by the local ethics committee (CAAE – 72914316.4.3001.5045).

Results

Among JIA patients, 17% were exposed to maternal smoking and 38% to familiar smoking, whereas among healthy controls these numbers were 8.2 and 17% respectively. JIA patients had a tendency to higher maternal smoking prevalence (p=0.082) and showed statistically significant higher prevalence of familiar smoking (p=0.002).

Conclusion

These data allow us to hypothesize that children exposed to second-hand smoking would have a higher incidence of JIA. Robust cohort studies are needed to test this hypothesis.