THE INFLUENCE OF HOMOCYSTEINE ON THE PATOGENESIS OF JUVENIL RHEUMATOID ARTRITIS IN CHILDREN

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which metabolic factors may contribute to disease severity. This study evaluated serum homocysteine levels in 67 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (mean age: 12.4 ± 3.7 years) and analyzed their association with age, disease duration, clinical form, and disease activity. The mean serum homocysteine concentration was 6.6 ± 2.6 μmol/L. Homocysteine levels showed no significant association with age and only a weak correlation with disease duration (r = 0.249; p = 0.043). In contrast, homocysteine concentration differed significantly according to clinical form (p = 0.005) and increased with higher disease activity (p < 0.001). A moderate positive correlation was observed between disease activity and homocysteine level (r = 0.457; p < 0.001). These findings suggest that serum homocysteine reflects inflammatory burden and clinical severity in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and may have potential value as a disease activity biomarker.

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