Arthritis, bleeding disorder and a chromosome marker--a family study.

The presence of easy bleeding in a preadolescent white female with pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and the presence of easy bleeding in some of her relatives led us to study the immune, genetic, and hematologic attributes of this family. Several members of the family showed abnormalities in the blood coagulation system suggestive of von Willebrand disease. The proband and her grandmother with the coagulation abnormality and rheumatic disorder also showed a particular chromosomal polymorphism (satellite chromosomes). While several interesting etiologic questions were raised, our results did not demonstrate a clear relationship between von Willebrand disease and JRA in this family.