PReS-FINAL-2273: Clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with fever of unknown origin in two Colombian pediatric rheumatology centers from 2010 to 2013

Methods We included patients from a prospective diagnostic test trial called: levels of total and glycosilated ferritin in children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SoJIA) and children with other causes of FUO. Patients had been referred with the diagnosis of FUO, defined as: temperature of >38.3°C at least twice per week during two or more weeks and without a clear diagnosis after initial evaluation. Epidemiological variables, fever characteristics and the following clinical manifestations were considered: arthritis, lymphadenopathy, evanescent rash, hepatosplenomegaly and serositis. We included the following laboratory tests: complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C reactive protein (CRP), Lactic Dehydrogenase (LDH), ferritin and transaminases. We considered other variables that were obtained retrospectively from medical records including: other clinical manifestations associated with fever, antibiotic treatment before admission, laboratory and diagnostic images, presence of significant organ or system dysfunction, number of patients who died and probable cause of death. Patients were followed by pediatric rheumatology for a minimum period of six months and they were grouped into categories in accordance with their final diagnosis. We used descriptive statistics. We compared the main clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with RD versus all patients with other causes of FUO using the chi-square test for categorical variables and for continuous variables the U Mann Whitney test was applied.