Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Dermatol. May 2, 2015; 4(2): 80-94
Published online May 2, 2015. doi: 10.5314/wjd.v4.i2.80
Review of the cutaneous manifestations of autoimmune connective tissue diseases in pediatric patients
Duri Yun, Sarah L Stein
Duri Yun, Sarah L Stein, Division of Dermatology, the University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL 60637, United States
Author contributions: Yun D and Stein SL solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Sarah L Stein, MD, Division of Dermatology, the University of Chicago Medicine, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, MC 5067, Chicago, IL 60637, United States. sstein@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
Telephone: +1-773-8342004 Fax: +1-773-7028398
Received: September 30, 2014
Peer-review started: September 30, 2014
First decision: October 28, 2014
Revised: February 25, 2015
Accepted: April 1, 2015
Article in press: April 7, 2015
Published online: May 2, 2015
Processing time: 209 Days and 22 Hours
Abstract

Autoimmune connective tissue diseases are chronic inflammatory disorders associated with complex genetic and environmental interplay resulting in a variety of cutaneous and systemic manifestations. Pediatric onset of these disorders carries a unique diagnostic pressure for the clinician due to the potential years of disease burden and complications. Mortality and morbidity from these disorders has fallen dramatically over the past fifty years due to increasing awareness of these disease sequelae and utilization of systemic treatment modalities when necessary. This review highlights the clinical features that are unique to pediatric presentations of lupus erythematosus, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis, juvenile onset systemic sclerosis and morphea. Each of these disorders has a distinct appearance corresponding to a particular cutaneous and systemic clinical course and prognosis. Awareness of the associated potential systemic complications can also alert the clinician to make astute management decisions when confronted with a probable rheumatologic case. Cutaneous symptoms may predate onset of systemic symptoms and by keeping the rheumatologic differential diagnoses in mind, the dermatologist can play a key role in potentially offsetting autoimmune disease burden in children.

Keywords: Lupus erythematosus; Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Juvenile dermatomyositis; Systemic sclerosis; Morphea

Core tip: Early recognition of cutaneous manifestations of connective tissue disease can positively impact disease course. This review summarizes key cutaneous findings of some of the more common pediatric autoimmune connective tissue disorders, including lupus erythematosus, neonatal lupus, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis, systemic sclerosis, and morphea.