Clinical Course of Henoch–Schönlein Purpura in South East of Iran

Background: The most prevalent form of systemic vasculitis in children is Henoch–Schönlein Purpura (HSP), also known as IgA vasculitis, with different manifestations. This study was performed to assess the clinical course of Henoch–Schönlein purpura in south east of Iran. Methods: The clinical data of 221 children under age 18 years who were diagnosed with HSP at Ali Ebne Abi Taleb hospital in Zahedan, Iran, was analyzed for a ten-year period. Clinical manifestations, laboratory measures and different types of treatments were recorded from the patients’ profiles with some useful additional information. Skin purpura, acute arthritis or arthralgia, gastrointestinal involvement, and renal involvement were the criteria for examination. Data description was performed by the use of SPSS 23.00. Results: Mean age of the patients was 7.37 ± 3.19 years at diagnosis and 51.13% of them were girls. About 23.8% and 98.6% of the patients had a history of upper respiratory infections and palpable purpura, respectively. Fever was detected in 25.2% of the children.  About 28.5% had vomiting and 13.6% had diarrhea. Renal involvement was observed in 130 children. During the course of the disease, 53.8% received prednisolone and 21.7% received pulse methylprednisolone due to severe GI symptoms or renal involvement. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) were administered to 19.45% of the patients. Conclusion: The patients’ sex ratio was close to 1:1, though girls slightly outnumbered boys. Most HSP patients had Joint symptoms, GI symptoms and renal involvement. Arthralgias were the initial manifestations. Multicenter prospective studies with a larger number of patients are recommended to confirm the results.