Epidemiological investigation and clinical findings of various types of vasculitis in children of eastern Iran

Background: Vasculitis is a heterogeneous group of diseases that means an inflammatory process in blood vessels. Diagnosing vasculitis in children is challenging due to the variety of symptoms. Classification of childhood vasculitis is usually based on clinical phenotypes, size of affected vessels (small, medium, or large), and pathology of inflammatory infiltrates. The aim of this study is to investigate the epidemiological information on types of vasculitis and their clinical symptoms in children in eastern Iran. Methods: This 3-year descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on all male and female patients with any vasculitis referred to the outpatient clinic and rheumatology department of Akbar Children's Hospital from the beginning of September 2017 to the end of September 2020. Has been. This study was based on information obtained from the checklist (information from the inpatient and outpatient records and information in the HIS). Checklist information included age, gender, drug history, history of surgery, clinical symptoms in different systems, season of disease onset, etc. Results: Out of 263 children, 135 (51.33%) had Henoch-Schonlein and 100 (38/02%) of them had Kawasaki. The numbers of Behcet, Takayasu and Churg-Strauss patients were 20, three and two, respectively. In most subgroups, female patients were more common than male patients. Kawasaki and Takayasu had the lowest and highest age of onset, respectively. The most common seasons of appearance for Henoch-Schonlein and Kawasaki were autumn and summer respectively. In most subgroups, skin rashes are the most common clinical symptom, with, the most common types being petechiae and purpura. Conclusion: In the present study, the most common type of vasculitis diagnosed in children in eastern Iran was reported by Henoch-Schonlein and Kawasaki respectively, which was completely different from the most common types of vasculitis in adulthood and indicated the importance of age in diagnosing the type of vasculitis. The necessity of clinical suspicion of these two diseases in children with skin rashes, along with matching with other clinical findings, is undeniable.