Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) is characterized by features of more than one of the rheumatic disorders with antinuclear antibodies in a speckled pattern and with anti bodies to nuclear ribonucleoprotein (nRNP). MCTD is uncommon in children and long- term follow-up studies in children are infrequently reported. A retrospective review of clinical experience at five pediatric rheumatology centers provided 11 patients who met the following inclusion criteria:
(1) Kasukawa's criteria for MCTD1;
(2) presentation younger than 18th birthday;
(3) greater than five years of follow-up;
(4) completion of data collection form.
The widely varying outcomes of these 11 children with MCTD on long-term follow-up may lend doubt that this is a unique and distinctive rheumatologic disorder.
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