Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is the most common type of childhood and adolescent chronic arthritis and a major cause of short-and long-term disability among the pediatric age group with chronic pediatric diseases (Cassidy & Petty, 2005) The term juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is used here because the criteria for this diagnosis (Cassidy et al., 1986) were the inclusion criteria for almost all of the studies cited (see Table 1). The newer international classification schema, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (International League Against Rheumatism, ILAR), has broader inclusion criteria, including psoriatic arthritis (joint swelling or two or more of the following signs: limitation of motion, tenderness or pain on motion and increased heat), enthesitis (inflammation at the insertion site of a tendon, ligament, fascia, or bone capsule)-associated arthritis (ERA), and an undifferentiated group (Cassidy & Petty, 2005). In addition adolescents may have primarily back and hip arthritis which falls under the category of spondylitis or spondyloarthropathy (Dougadoes et al., 1991) which will also be addressed. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.