Abstract: Objective Clinical characteristics and therapeutic effect of children with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).Methods A total of 22 children (6 males and 14 females) with AIH admitted to our department from June 2014 to June 2019 were selected with an average age of (9.5 ±4.4) years. The treatment was prednisone 2 mg/kg/d (maximum dose 60 mg/d) 1 month after azathioprine treatment 2 mg/kg/d (maximum 100 mg/d). After 3 months of treatment, the hormone drug dose was gradually reduced until it stopped. The measurement data were expressed as (±s) or [M (P25, P75)], t-test or Kruskal-Wallis H test; the counting data were expressed as absolute numbers and compared by chi-square test.Results Among the 22 cases of AIH, 6 cases were acute course, 10 cases were subacute course and 6 cases were chronic course. 13 cases were AIH type I, 5 cases were AIH type II, 4 cases were unclassified. There was no significant difference among the three groups (P>0.05). GLO in patients with AIH type I [(35.2±9.8) g] was significantly higher than that in patients with AIH type II [(24.1±6.7) g, P<0.05]. The IgG of patients with AIH type I [(27.4±5.2) g] was significantly higher than that of patients with AIH type II [(19.7±4.4g) g, P<0.05], but there was no significant difference in ALT, AST and TBIL between the two types (P>0.05). The results of liver histology included interfacial hepatitis (n = 12), plasma cell or lymphocyte infiltration (n = 18), hepatic fibrosis (n = 22), rosette (n = 6) and bile duct lesion (n = 3). There was no significant difference in liver histological results among AIH I, AIH II and unclassified patients (P>0.05). All patients were followed up after treatment, 21 cases were effective, 6 cases were refractory and 11 cases were recurrent. there was no significant difference in the number of effective, refractory and recurrent cases between AIH type I, AIH type II and unclassified patients (P>0.05).Conclusion The clinical manifestations of AIH type I, II and unclassified children are various, and the laboratory indexes and liver histological results are more serious. Prednisone + azathioprine can effectively improve the condition of AIH patients, but the patients are prone to recurrence after treatment and need to adhere to the treatment.

Key words: Autoimmune hepatitis, Azathioprine, Immunoglobulin G, Interfacial hepatitis