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Objectives: We aimed to outline the demographic data, clinical spectrum, and treatment approach of sarcoidosis in a large group of patients and sought to figure out the variations of early-onset (EOS) and late-onset paediatric sarcoidosis (LOS)., Methods: The study followed a retrospective-descriptive design, with the analysis of medical records of cases diagnosed as paediatric sarcoidosis., Results: Fifty-two patients were included in the study. The median age at disease onset and follow-up duration were 83 (28.2-119) and 24 (6-48) months, respectively. Ten (19.2%) cases had EOS (before 5th birthday) and 42 (80.7%) cases had LOS. The most common clinical findings at the time of the disease onset were ocular symptoms (40.4%) followed by joint manifestation (25%), dermatological symptoms (13.5%), and features related to multi-organ involvement (11.5%). Anterior uveitis was the most common (55%) one among ocular manifestations. Patients with EOS displayed joint, eye, and dermatological findings more commonly than patients with LOS. The recurrence rate of disease in patients with EOS (5.7%) and LOS (21.1%) were not statistically different (P = .7)., Conclusions: Patients with EOS and LOS may present with variable clinical features and studies addressing paediatric sarcoidosis cases in collaboration between disciplines will enhance the awareness of this rare disease among physicians and assist early diagnosis with lesser complications., (© Japan College of Rheumatology 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: To reveal the vaccination status of patients with pediatric rheumatic disease (PedRD) and to compare this with healthy controls., Methods: The electronic health records of the Ministry of Health regarding the vaccination status of children with PedRD followed in a tertiary hospital were analyzed cross-sectionally and compared with their healthy controls. The missing vaccines were reported according to individual, age-appropriate schedule and causes of skipped vaccines in both groups were investigated with an online survey., Results: The vaccination rate of patients in the last examination was 71.4% (90/126) and 95.7% (110/115) in healthy controls ( p  < 0.001). Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, diphtheria, the administration rates of the second dose of tetanus-acellular pertussis-inactivated polio and Haemophilus influenzae type B, chickenpox, and hepatitis A vaccines were significantly lower in patients than in controls ( p values 0.004, 0.02, 0.01, 0.013, respectively). The pre-diagnosis incomplete vaccination proportion was significantly higher in the patient group (16.6%) than in healthy controls (4.3%) ( p  = 0.002). In the patient group, the proportion of incomplete live-attenuated vaccines after diagnosis (25%) was more than pre-diagnosis (61.1%) ( p  = 0.04), while the proportion of incomplete non-live vaccines before and after diagnosis was similar (47.2% and 50%, respectively) ( p  = 0.73). The major reasons for missed vaccines were physicians' recommendations (15.6%), the presence of PedRD diagnosis (12.5%), and the drugs used (12.5%)., Conclusion: Vaccination coverage of PedRD patients has been shown to lag behind the routine vaccination schedule (71.4%). In addition to new recommendations, electronic health system records for vaccination may be appropriate for the follow-up of these patients, and the addition of reminder alerts may be useful to reduce the rate of missed vaccinations.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the levels of serum endocan in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)., Patients and Methods: Sixty-seven children with JIA (30 males, 37 females; mean age 10.4±4.9 years; range 2 to 18 years) and a sex- and age- matched healthy control group of 39 children (16 males, 23 females; mean age 9.3±4.1 years; range 1 to 17 years) were recruited. Patients with JIA were divided into two groups as the clinically active JIA group (n=27) and inactive JIA group (n=40)., Results: The median serum endocan level in patients with JIA was significantly higher than in the control group (633.75 ng/L vs. 379.76 ng/L, p<0.01). Comparison between patients with active JIA and inactive JIA was not significant in terms of endocan levels (618.70 ng/L vs. 687.36 ng/L, p=0.34). There was a weak negative correlation between Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire scores of patients with JIA and serum endocan levels., Conclusion: The high level of serum endocan highlighted the endothelial damage in patients with JIA., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Objective: Pediatric patients with different age groups who underwent balloon angioplasty for aortic coarctation were evaluated for recoarctation, aneurysm, peripheral arterial injuries and concomitant diseases., Methods: From January 1994 to 2010, 80 patients with aortic coarctation (native/recoarctation) were evaluated, retrospectively. According to age at angioplasty, patients were divided into three groups: Group A (0-3 months, n=29, 25 male/4 female, average weight 4±1.2 kg), Group B (3-12 months, n=20, 15 male/5 girls, average weight 6.5±1.9 kg) and Group C (> 1 year, n= 31, 15 male/16 girls, average weight 22.8±16 kg). The patients were followed with echocardiography and clinical signs. The data of the native and recoarcted patients and also those in three different age groups were analyzed by using Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, and Student t tests., Results: Peak systolic pressure gradient was reduced from 42±17 mmHg to 6.2±6 mmHg after balloon angioplasty (p<0.001) [n=80, 56 (70%) native, 24 (30%) recoarctation]. There was no difference between groups for early success. None of them did require immediate surgery. There were ventricular septal defect in 23 (28.7%), bicuspid aorta in 18 (22.5%), patent ductus arteriosus in 11 (13.7%) patients. Two patients had Turner's syndrome. Mean follow-up period was 74±56 months. While recoarctation developed in 20 (25%), [12 (60%) in Group A, 5 (25%) in Group B and 3 (15%) in group C, incidence was higher in the 0-3 months age group (p=0.018). Femoral artery occlusion and aneurysm were developed in 6 (7.5%) and 4 (5%) patients, respectively, and all of them were under 1-year-old., Conclusion: Balloon angioplasty can be used a method in treatment of native aortic coarctation and postoperative restenosis. Especially, children under 3 months should be monitored closely after the procedure for recoarctation, aneurysms and peripheral artery problems.