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Colchicine is a Safe Drug in Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever
The Journal of Pediatrics, 07/05/2012
Clinical Article
Padeh S et al. – Colchicine is a safe drug in the treatment of children with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), even in infancy. The only significant adverse effects are diarrhea (in a small number of patients), which can be controlled by a decrease in the colchicine dose and transitory elevation of transaminases.
Methods- Clinical presentation, Mediterranean fever gene genotype, disease duration, colchicine dose, laboratory tests, and reported adverse effects in children with FMF were analyzed.
- Of the 153 patients with FMF, 22 (14.4%) developed diarrhea during a follow–up of 4 years; the colchicine dose was reduced to control this symptom in only 4 patients.
- In 18 (11.8%) patients, a mild transitory increase of transaminases (45–158 IU/L) was found during a follow–up of 1 year.
- Blood cell counts and kidney function tests were normal in all patients.
- No correlation was found between the adverse effects and patient's age, disease onset, treatment duration, or any of the clinical characteristics of the disease.
