My son is 2 1/2 and was just diagnosed with JRA. I also have JRA. I know I was ANA positive and now we found my son is ANA positive, as well. I've never really known what this means. As a child, it meant I had to see a pediatric eye doctor to check for inflammation to the eyes every 6 months. Later, as an adult I am told that I have some scarring to my eyes because of the inflammation, but nothing too major. I've been researching on the net and talked to the docs about it. I wanted to know if any of you know more about tests resulting as ANA positive. The results of ANA positive changes our treatment plan with our son. It means seeing a pediatric opthalmologist every 3 months to check for inflammation behind the eyes. Do any of you have more experience or insight to offer regarding this?
My daughter is ANA negative, but still gets regular eye exams. It is my understanding that all children with JRA need regular eye exams.
ANA is just one indicator that can mean a lot of things, from what I am told. I think you are more at risk for eye problems, but being negative does not rule them out.
Thanks Suzanne. How often does your daughter get eye exams?ANA and RH factors are the usual tests done. I have always been told that they have to be opposite from each other--and that is the indicator of arthritis.She goes every three months and has never had any inflammation/uveitis/iritis.
Marcy - the 'opposite' thing is not anything I have heard. And my daughter is ANA neg and RF neg and has been all along, but her dx is poly JRA.
It all goes back to JRA as a 'diagnosis of exclusion'. There is no one single test that says JRA/RA - they just look at all the factors - labs, physical - and after everything has been ruled out, there you go....
'Anti-CCP' is another one that is supposed to carry a lot of weight. If you are positive for that (adults say), it is almost a certainty. My daughter is negative for that, too.
That sheds some light on things-I think... Ethan is RF negative and ANA positive but the doctors didn't mention a coorelation between the two.
Marcy-Yes, the docs told me if he was ANA negative he would have his eyes checked every 6 months. But since he's positive, he'll need checks every 3 months since it is more probable for a child with ANA positive results to develop inflammation of the eyes. They did say it's more common in girls than boys.
Suzanne- That's good that your daughter gets checkups every 3 months. Sounds like her docs and you are on top of things. I'll have to ask about the Anti-CCP as I've never heard mention of that. Are you saying that if your positive for this it's almost a certainty that you have JRA or RA as a diagnosis?
I have seen adults post they were told that; an adult rheum also told us it meant more than RF.
I like to know the numbers, the labs, etc. But I've learned not to get my hopes up about anything in any direction. They really beat me up about sedrate in the beginning (it was 37), but once it was normal, it is never mentioned anymore. Doesn't matter at all now, apparently.
Then they got onto CRP. Went down dramatically - from 11.9 to 1.2 (still high; normal would be <0.6 on that scale). Was anybody but me happy? Nope. Ped rheum stopped testing it.
Yes, I know what you mean Suzanne. They were so worried about the sed rate with Ethan in the beginning. Now, they don't mention it.hmmm---it seems different doc---different opinion.Different opinions - our ped rheum says if you ask five rheums for an opinion, you will get six opinions!!!!
That is very true that there are always different opinions. When we found he was ANA positive and would need the eye checks done more frequently, the pediatric eye doctor, as well as, our rheumy both said that there are specific eye drops that they use to treat the swelling. She needs to see the Opthalmologist every 4 months.Wow, Lani. That's the first I've heard of that. Good to know. My son is not RF postivive but ANA positive. I'll have to bring this up at our next appt, This study at the site below explains that pauciarticular JRA has the highest association of uveitis. Which I never knew.
http://www.uveitis.org/medical/articles/case/JRA.html
A second site explained in the same way saying that with oligoarticular (pauciarticular) onset JIA a high risk for uveitis exists.
http://www.emedicine.com/OPH/topic675.htm
This is the type of JRA my son has. I wonder why our docs didn't mention it this way. Maybe they thought it would upset us?
Leave it to docs to leave stuff out---it seems we always have to stay on top of stuff ourself.