PReS-FINAL-2005: Prevalence of antinuclear antibodies in schoolchildren across puberty and possible relationship with musculoskeletal pain. A longitudinal study

Introduction Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are frequently found in children with connective tissue diseases but can be also found in healthy individuals even in absence of autoimmune conditions, with a prevalence ranging from 13.3% (titer ≥1:80) to 5.0% (titer ≥1:160). Puberty is a period of important changing in immune system because of the sexual and adenohypophyseal hormones modulation; in fact many autoimmune and connective tissue diseases have their onset in this period. To date, a few studies have evaluated the role of ANA in healthy subjects but no one has explored their meaning and frequency across the puberty switch.