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Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Topic Overview

Picture of the skeletal system

What is juvenile idiopathic arthritis?

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a childhood disease that causes inflamed, swollen joints. This makes joints stiff and painful. The term "juvenile idiopathic arthritis" is replacing the American "juvenile rheumatoid arthritis" and the European "juvenile chronic arthritis."

Some children with JIA grow out of it after they get treatment. Others will need ongoing treatment as adults.

There are several types of JIA.

  • Oligoarticular (formerly known as pauciarticular) is the most common form. It is often the mildest type. The condition is called persistent oligoarthritis if no more than 4 joints are involved in the first 6 months of symptoms. It is called extended oligoarthritis if more joints become involved after the first 6 months. Your child may have pain in the knees, ankles, fingers, toes, wrists, elbows, or hips.
  • Polyarticular affects more joints and tends to get worse over time. It can be severe. It may be more like rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
  • Systemic can be the most serious. It causes pain in many joints. It can also spread to organs.
  • Enthesitis-related most often affects the areas where tendons and ligaments attach to bones (the enthesis). The joints may also be affected.
  • Psoriatic usually combines joint tenderness and inflammation with psoriasis of the skin or problems with nails.

What causes JIA?

Doctors don't really know what causes the disease. But there are a number of things that they think can lead to it. These things include:

  • An immune system that is too active and attacks joint tissues.
  • Viruses or other infections that cause the immune system to attack joint tissues.
  • Having certain genes that make the immune system more likely to attack joint tissues.

What are the symptoms?

Children can have one or many symptoms, such as:

  • Joint pain.
  • Joint swelling.
  • Joint stiffness.
  • Trouble sleeping.
  • Problems walking.
  • Fever.
  • Rash.

In some cases these symptoms can be mild and hard for you to see. A young child may be more cranky than normal. Or a child may go back to crawling after he or she has started walking. Your child's joints may feel stiff in the morning. Or your child may have trouble walking.

Children with this disease can also get inflammatory eye disease. This can lead to permanent vision problems or blindness if it’s not treated. Eye disease often has no symptoms before vision loss occurs.

How is JIA diagnosed?

Your doctor will ask questions about your child’s symptoms and past health and will do a physical exam. Your child may also have blood tests and a urine test to look for signs of the disease. If your child has the disease, these tests can help your doctor find out which type it is.

How is it treated?

Your child’s treatment will be based on the type of JIA he or she has, and how serious it is.

  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce pain and inflammation. If they don't work well enough, other medicines are used.
  • Exercise and physical therapy help keep your child’s muscles flexible and strong.
  • Occupational therapy helps your child live as independently as possible.
  • Surgery to correct joint problems is only done in rare cases.

Even when JIA isn't severe, your child may still need long-term treatment. To make sure that treatment is right for your child, work closely with the medical team. Learn as much as you can about your child’s disease and treatments. Stay on a schedule with your child’s medicines and exercise.

How do you cope with JIA?

Take good physical care of yourself so that you can help your child through the more difficult periods of illness. Consider finding a support group of families who live with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Your local chapter of the Arthritis Foundation can provide classes and support group information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Learning about juvenile idiopathic arthritis:

Being diagnosed:

Getting treatment:

Ongoing concerns:

Living with juvenile idiopathic arthritis:

Cause

The cause of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) isn't well understood. Most experts believe it is caused by a combination of things, including:

  • An immune system that is too active and attacks joint tissues.
  • Viruses or other infections that cause the immune system to attack joint tissues.
  • Having certain genes that make the immune system more likely to attack joint tissues.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms of all forms of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) include:

  • Joint pain and swelling. They may come and go, but they are most often persistent.
  • Joint stiffness in the morning.
  • Irritability, refusal to walk, or protecting or guarding a joint. You might notice your child limping or trying not to use a certain joint.
  • Often unpredictable changes in symptoms, from periods with no symptoms (remission) to flare-ups.

Even though pain is a common symptom of JIA, your child may not be able to describe the pain. Or he or she may be used to the pain. To know if your child is in pain, look for changes such as stiff movements, rubbing a joint or muscle, or avoiding movement.

Other symptoms vary depending on which type of JIA your child has.

Systemic JIA can cause fever spikes and rash.

  • The fever usually reaches 103°F (39.5°C) to 106°F (41°C) once or twice a day. It falls to normal between spikes.
  • The rash is spotty, flat, and sometimes faint red or pink. It may occur with the fever. It may be on the torso, face, palms, soles of the feet, and armpits. The rash often comes and goes. It may appear late in the day or in the early morning. It may also be brought on by warm baths or by rubbing or scratching the skin.

Other conditions with symptoms similar to JIA include growing pains, overuse, injury, bone infection, and certain inflammatory diseases. Many conditions can cause painful, stiff joints in children. Most often, occasional joint pain in children is related to an injury or aggravating factors, such as repetitive overuse in sports activities. JIA is a fairly uncommon cause of these symptoms.

What Happens

The course of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is unpredictable, especially during the first few years after a child is diagnosed. JIA can be mild, causing few problems. It can get worse or disappear without clear reason. Over time, the pattern of symptoms becomes more predictable. Most children have good and bad days.

Of all children who have JIA, 3 or 4 out of 10 children will have long-term disability.1 Long-term disability may range from occasional stiffness, the need for pain medicine, and limits on physical activity to ongoing JIA and the need for major surgery such as joint replacement. But for most adults who had JIA as children, any long-term problems tend to be mild and don't affect their overall quality of life.

A child's long-term outlook depends on the type of JIA he or she has. For example, while a child with oligoarticular JIA has a good long-term outlook other than eye disease risk, a child with polyarticular JIA or systemic JIA has a greater chance of long-term problems.2

Treatment also affects the child's long-term outlook. If treatment is started early, there is less long-term disability, and the tissues may heal over time.2

Types of JIA

  • Oligoarticular JIA (oligoarthritis): Up to 60% of all children with JIA have this form.2 They may continue to have the disease as adults. This risk is higher if more joints are affected after the first 6 months.
  • Polyarticular JIA (polyarthritis): This type of JIA is more severe than most cases of oligoarticular JIA. That's because polyarticular JIA affects more joints, and it tends to get worse over time. About 30% of children affected by JIA have this form.2 Many children will have active disease that continues into adulthood. There are two types: rheumatoid factor-positive (RF-positive) and rheumatoid factor-negative (RF-negative).
  • Systemic JIA: About 10% of children affected by JIA have the systemic form.2 Many will continue to have active disease as adults. While some children have one course of this disease that lasts 2 to 4 years, others continue to have mild joint pain and flares of other symptoms. A few have ongoing destructive arthritis, often into adulthood, even with treatment.2
  • Enthesitis-related JIA: About 10% of children with JIA have this form. The long-term outlook for this form of JIA is less well known. Some children progress to other conditions such as adult ankylosing spondylitis. This is more common in boys who have hip arthritis.
  • Psoriatic JIA: This is the least common form, occurring in fewer than 10% of children with JIA. Children with psoriatic arthritis have a skin condition called psoriasis. The long-term outcome for this type of JIA isn't well known. Some children continue to have skin and joint symptoms. For a few, the ability to do daily activities can become limited.

Learn more about the symptoms and what happens in the types of JIA.

Complications

Complications associated with JIA can include:

  • Inflammatory eye disease, such as uveitis. Children and adults with this condition can develop cataracts, glaucoma, corneal degeneration (band keratopathy), or vision loss.
  • Growth abnormalities. These include unequal leg lengths, an imbalance in growth of the jaw, and temporary delay in breast growth.
  • Joint damage. This is common in the polyarticular form of JIA and can occur early. About 30% to 50% of children with JIA may have some level of disability that continues into adulthood.2 Long-term problems can be mild and have little effect on daily activities.

Some children with polyarthritis get arthritis in the neck that can cause the neck bones to fuse together.

Complications of systemic JIA include heart or lung problems, such as pericarditis, pleuritis, or pericardial effusion. A rare lung complication is the formation of scar tissue in the lungs (pulmonary fibrosis).

What Increases Your Risk

No clear risk factors for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are known at this time. It may run in families.

When To Call a Doctor

Call your doctor immediately if:

  • Your child has sudden, unexplained swelling, redness, and pain in any joint or joints.
  • A baby or child is unusually cranky or reluctant to crawl or walk.
  • Red eyes, eye pain, and blurring or loss of vision occur in a child who has been diagnosed with any form of juvenile arthritis.

Call your doctor if any of the following symptoms continue for more than 2 days:

  • A child has unexplained daily fever spikes [103°F (39.4°C) to 106°F (41.1°C)] with or without a pink skin rash.
  • A baby or child is reluctant to crawl or walk in the early morning but improves after 1 to 2 hours.
  • A child taking aspirin or another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) develops stomach pain not clearly related to stomach flu, but possibly related to medicine use. (Symptoms may include heartburn, nausea, or refusal to eat.)
  • Joint pain and skin rash develop following a sore throat.

It can be hard to know when an infant has joint pain. A young child may be unusually cranky or may revert to crawling after he or she has started walking. You may notice gait problems with a walking child or stiffness in the morning.

Who to see

For a first check of joint pain and other symptoms of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), consult with a:

For more testing and disease management, consult with a rheumatologist who specializes in children's rheumatic disease (pediatric rheumatologist).

The disease management team for JIA may also include:

  • An orthopedic surgeon who specializes in children's orthopedic problems (pediatric orthopedist).
  • Nurses.
  • Physical and occupational therapists.
  • A registered dietitian or nutritionist, as needed.
  • A social worker or psychologist, as needed.
  • A general dentist and an orthodontist, as needed.
  • An ophthalmologist.

To prepare for your appointment, see the topic Making the Most of Your Appointment.

Exams and Tests

Findings from a physical exam, including the pattern and nature of joint symptoms, are important keys to the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Lab tests may be used to support the diagnosis and make sure symptoms aren't caused by another health problem. JIA is often diagnosed only after other possible causes of symptoms have been ruled out and the pain and stiffness have lasted for at least 6 weeks.

Routine exams and tests include the following:

The following tests are done if needed:

Your doctor will probably schedule routine checkups to see how your child is doing and how well treatment is working. This will include talking about inflammatory eye disease and exams for this disease, such as a slit lamp eye exam.

Treatment Overview

Treatment goals for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are to reduce your child's joint pain and to prevent disability. Physical therapy and medicine are the basis of medical treatment for JIA.

Treatment depends on the type and severity of JIA. Even when JIA is uncomplicated, an affected child may need years of medical treatment or checkups. To make sure that your child's care is appropriate for the stage of disease, work closely with the medical team. Learn as much as you can about your child's disease and treatments. And stay on schedule with medicine and exercise.

Your doctor will set up a treatment team. It may include a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist, a rheumatologist, and a physical and/or occupational therapist.

Physical therapy

Treatment may include:

To learn more, see Home Treatment and Other Treatment.

Medicines

Medicine will likely be an important part of your child's treatment.

To learn more, see Medications.

Follow-up

Treatment depends on the type and severity of JIA. Even when JIA is uncomplicated, an affected child may need years of medical treatment or checkups. To make sure that your child's care is appropriate for the stage of disease, work closely with the medical team. Learn as much as you can about your child's disease and treatments. And stay on schedule with medicine and exercise.

Inflammatory eye disease may develop in children with JIA. This form of eye disease generally has no symptoms and can lead to a permanent decrease in vision or blindness. So part of your child's treatment plan should be regular checkups with an ophthalmologist.

What to think about

Surgery may be used in a very small number of children with JIA who have severe joint deformity, loss of movement, or pain.

Some children with JIA have no appetite, so malnutrition becomes a medical concern. If your child has little appetite for food, see a nutritionist for help.

Prevention

The cause of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) isn't well understood, and there is no way to prevent it. But you can help prevent symptoms. See Home Treatment.

Home Treatment

You can do a lot at home to help your child lead a normal life, relieve his or her symptoms, and prevent complications.

  • Do range-of-motion exercises. These help maintain your child's joint range and muscle strength. They also prevent contractures. You may need to help an infant or younger child do the exercises.
  • Find a balance between rest and activity. Your child may need extra naps or quiet time to rest the joints and regain strength. But too much rest may lead to weakness in unused muscles.
  • Partner with school staff. You can plan creative ways of dealing with JIA-caused limitations. This can help your child make the best of his or her abilities.
  • Stick to a medicine schedule. An older child may find it easier to remember to take medicine by using a pillbox or chart for a day's or week's worth of medicine. Ask your doctor if the dosage can be adjusted so your child can take it at times that are most convenient and won't make him or her feel "different." To avoid stomach upset, you can also give nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with meals or a small snack.
  • Use assistive devices. These can help your child hold on to, open, close, move, or do things more easily. Devices include Velcro fasteners and enlarged handles. Getting your child lightweight clothing and toys will also help.
  • Make sure your child sees the doctor regularly. He or she should also have eye exams with an ophthalmologist. Inflammatory eye disease can develop as a complication in children with JIA.

Dealing with stiffness

  • Apply heat to stiff and painful joints for 20 minutes, repeating as needed. You can use hot water bottles or heating pads on a low-to-medium setting. Or make hot packs from towels dipped in warm water or wet towels microwaved for 15 to 30 seconds. Don't leave a small child unattended with a heating pad. Always make sure that heating pads, hot water bottles, and hot packs aren't too hot for your child's skin. Do not use heat if your child's joint are red and warm.
  • Many children who have JIA have less stiffness in the morning if their joints are kept warm during the night. To help keep joints warm, try footed pajamas, thermal underwear, a sleeping bag, a heated water bed, or an electric blanket.
  • Encourage your child to take a warm bath or shower first thing in the morning. It can help ease stiffness. Have your child stretch gently afterward.
  • Give morning medicines as early as possible, with a snack or breakfast, to prevent upsetting an empty stomach.

Help yourself to help your child

Living with JIA often means making lifestyle changes and adjustments. This can be frustrating and demanding for you, your child, and your family. Here are a few steps to help yourself:

  • Learn about the disease. Knowing more about it will help you and your child have less fear, make better decisions, and have better results.
  • Work as a team with your child's doctors and other health professionals. The outlook is better when you and your child actively manage your child's health.
  • Take good physical care of yourself so that you can help your child through the more difficult periods of illness. Consider becoming involved with a support group of families who live with JIA. Your local chapter of the Arthritis Foundation can provide classes and support-group information.
  • Remember that many children with JIA don't have long-term disease and disability. They go on to lead healthy adult lives.

Medications

Most children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) need to take medicine to reduce inflammation and control pain and to help prevent more damage to the joints. When inflammation and pain are controlled, a child is more willing and able to do joint exercises to improve joint strength and prevent loss of movement.

Many different medicines are used to treat JIA. No single medicine works for every child. Your doctor will try to find medicine that helps relieve symptoms and that has few side effects. This may take some time

Medication choices

Although treatment varies depending on the needs of each child, certain medications are often tried first (first-line medicines), while others are often saved to try later if they are needed (second-line medicines).

Medicines tried first

  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Naproxen is the most often used NSAID treatment for JIA because of its low incidence of side effects compared to its effectiveness.3 Ibuprofen may be used instead. But in general, less than one-third of children will have significant relief from NSAIDs.1 If you see no improvement after 6 weeks, your doctor may try a different NSAID.

Medicines tried later

  • Corticosteroids. Injections can be used for children who have just a few joints affected or who have enthesitis. Steroid medicines by mouth or through an IV are often used for widespread joint pain or systemic problems such as fever or pericarditis. Steroid medicines work faster than some other drugs, so they may also be used until other medicines start working.
  • Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). These are also called slow-acting antirheumatic drugs (SAARDs). They include:
  • Antimalarials, such as hydroxychloroquine sulfate (Plaquenil)
  • Adult therapies, such as other cytotoxic (cell-destroying) drugs and intravenous human immunoglobulin. These may be used for rheumatoid arthritis in adults. But they aren't yet proved to be safe and effective for children with JIA.

Medicines to treat inflammatory eye disease

What to think about

Gold salts were one of the first treatments used for joint inflammation. You may still hear about them. But injected gold salts have been replaced by methotrexate for the treatment of JIA. Gold salts taken by mouth (oral) have not been shown to be effective for JIA.3

Some children with JIA gain significant benefit from early methotrexate treatment, and this treatment is becoming more common in an effort to prevent joint and eye damage. Early treatment with methotrexate is often used for polyarticular JIA.1

Biologic therapy is a newer option to treat JIA that doesn't respond to other treatments. Biologics such as etanercept have had some success in relieving symptoms and decreasing the number of flare-ups.

Combination therapy—such as using methotrexate with sulfasalazine, hydroxychloroquine, or etanercept—has been used on a limited basis to treat JIA. Most medical experience with combination therapy is with adults. Only children with severe JIA that has not improved with methotrexate or sulfasalazine are considered for combination treatment.

If your child is on aspirin therapy

Yearly flu shots are recommended for children who are on long-term aspirin therapy. Children on long-term aspirin therapy who get chickenpox or the flu are at risk for getting Reye syndrome. Although there is a risk, Reye syndrome is very rare. Very few cases have been reported in children with chronic arthritis who were being treated with aspirin. If your child has been exposed to chickenpox or the flu, talk to the doctor about giving your child acetaminophen to control pain and relieve fever until the incubation period, or the illness itself, has passed.

Surgery

Surgical treatment may be used in a very small number of children whose juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) has caused severe joint deformity, loss of movement, or pain.

The main things to think about for surgery during childhood are the child's age and whether his or her bones are still growing. If at all possible, joint reconstruction is delayed until childhood bone growth is complete (at about 18 years of age).

Surgery choices

When surgery to correct joint deformity is needed, the more common procedures include:

Other surgical procedures for JIA are recommended only in selected cases. These include:

  • Osteotomy, which involves removing a wedge of bone to allow more normal alignment of the joint. It may be recommended for children who have severe joint contractures.
  • Epiphysiodesis. In this surgery, the portion where growth occurs is removed in order to stop growth.
  • Synovectomy or tenosynovectomy. These are rarely used for JIA. Synovectomy involves the removal of the joint lining (synovium) and/or the covering of the tendon (tenosynovectomy) to reduce joint inflammation.
  • Arthrodesis. This is rarely used in children. It involves fusing two bones in a diseased joint so that the joint can no longer move.

Other Treatment

Other treatment for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) includes physical and occupational therapy, healthy eating, pain management, and some complementary therapies.

Physical and occupational therapy

Physical therapy will be an important part of treatment if your child has severe JIA. The physical therapist can help set up an exercise program for your child, either for the child to do alone or to do with help from an adult. Exercises should be done every day and should be regularly reviewed by the physical therapist.3 The therapist will make sure that the exercises are being done correctly. He or she can decide whether any exercises should be added, dropped, or changed.

Occupational therapy helps a child live as independently as possible.

Any of the following may be used in physical or occupational therapy:

  • Physical conditioning. It may include aerobic exercise, range-of-motion exercises, and strength and stretching exercises.
  • Stretching and strengthening exercises. They can help a child maintain strength and a normal range of motion.
  • Splinting at night. Splinting will help keep the wrist, hand, knee, and/or ankle joints straight. This may prevent pain, morning stiffness, and contractures. Working splints can help support a joint and relieve pain during writing or other hand tasks.
  • Serial casting of the knees, ankles, wrists, fingers, and/or elbows. This is a temporary straightening and casting of the affected joint. The cast is then removed, and the child goes through some physical therapy. Then a new cast is applied with the joint stretched a bit more.
  • Shoe lifts or inserts. These help to equalize leg lengths for children in whom one leg grows at a different rate than the other.

Healthy eating

Healthy eating means eating a variety of foods so that your child gets the nutrients he or she needs for growth and development. Good nutrition may also help fight the effects of JIA. Your child can eat all types of food as long as his or her weekly intake is balanced and varied.

Talk to your child's doctor about healthy foods for children with JIA. There are a few nutrients that may be helpful. These include:

  • Vitamin D and calcium, which can help control bone loss that is often linked with inactivity and with corticosteroid treatment.
  • Vitamin C, which is an antioxidant that may help reduce inflammation in the body. It is found in citrus fruits, tomatoes, berries, broccoli, cabbage, and brussels sprouts.
  • Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil, which have been shown to mildly reduce inflammation in adults with rheumatoid arthritis. They may have the same effect in children who have JIA. The best sources of omega-3 fatty acids are cold-water fish and flaxseed oil.4

Pain management

Complementary medicine therapies for pain management

  • Massage is used to promote relaxation, relieve pain, and restore normal joint movement.
  • Guided imagery may be used to promote relaxation and manage pain.
  • Acupuncture is mildly effective in relieving pain in adults who have rheumatoid arthritis. It may help relieve pain in children who have JIA, but this has not been proven.

Other Places To Get Help

Organizations

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
6300 North River Road
Rosemont, IL  60018-4262
Phone: 1-800-346-AAOS (1-800-346-2267)
(847) 823-7186
Fax: (847) 823-8125
Email: orthoinfo@aaos.org
Web Address: www.orthoinfo.aaos.org
 

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) provides information and education to raise the public's awareness of musculoskeletal conditions, with an emphasis on preventive measures. The AAOS website contains information on orthopedic conditions and treatments, injury prevention, and wellness and exercise.

Juvenile Arthritis Alliance (JA Alliance)
P.O. Box 7669
Atlanta, GA  30357-0669
Phone: 1-800-283-7800
Web Address: www.arthritis.org/ja-alliance-main.php
 

The Juvenile Arthritis Alliance (JA Alliance or JAA) is a virtual community connected through the Arthritis Foundation Web site. Its members are parents, volunteers, health professionals, and anyone who is affected by juvenile arthritis. The JAA works to reach children and families with developmentally appropriate quality programs and services. Such programs and services include national and regional JA conferences, juvenile arthritis camps, evidence-based JA programs, and chapter level informational workshops (family days that focus on children and youth newly diagnosed with arthritis and on their families). The JAA Web site includes information on juvenile arthritis issues such as treatment and dealing with juvenile arthritis in everyday life. The Web site also offers information on networking, advocacy, and research.

KidsHealth for Parents, Children, and Teens
10140 Centurion Parkway North
Jacksonville, FL  32256
Phone: (904) 697-4100
Fax: (904) 697-4220
Web Address: www.kidshealth.org
 

This website is sponsored by the Nemours Foundation. It has a wide range of information about children's health, from allergies and diseases to normal growth and development (birth to adolescence). This website offers separate areas for kids, teens, and parents, each providing age-appropriate information that the child or parent can understand. You can sign up to get weekly emails about your area of interest.

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), National Institutes of Health
1 AMS Circle
Bethesda, MD  20892-3675
Phone: 1-877-22-NIAMS (1-877-226-4267) toll-free
Phone: (301) 495-4484
Fax: (301) 718-6366
TDD: (301) 565-2966
Email: niamsinfo@mail.nih.gov
Web Address: www.niams.nih.gov
 

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is a governmental institute that serves the public and health professionals by providing information, locating other information sources, and participating in a national federal database of health information. NIAMS supports research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases and supports the training of scientists to carry out this research.

The NIAMS website provides health information referrals to the NIAMS Clearinghouse, which has information packages about diseases.

Spondylitis Association of America
P.O. Box 5872
Sherman Oaks, CA  91413
Phone: 1-800-777-8189
(818) 981-1616
Email: info@spondylitis.org
Web Address: www.spondylitis.org
 

The Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) is a national nonprofit organization. It is dedicated to the cure of ankylosing spondylitis and related diseases such as spondyloarthropathy, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, and enteropathic arthritis through education, advocacy, awareness, and research.


References

Citations

  1. Hashkes PJ, Laxer RM (2005). Medical treatment of juvenile ideopathic arthritis. JAMA, 294(13): 1671–1684.
  2. Nistala K, et al. (2009). Juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In GS Firestein et al., eds., Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology, 8th ed., vol. 2, pp. 1657–1675. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
  3. Giannini EH, Brunner HI (2005). Treatment of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. In WJ Koopman, LW Moreland, eds., Arthritis and Allied Conditions, 15th ed., vol. 1, pp. 1301–1318. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
  4. Murray MT, Pizzorno JE Jr (2006). Rheumatoid arthritis. In JE Pizzorno, MT Murray, eds., Textbook of Natural Medicine, 3rd ed., vol. 2, pp. 2089–2108. St. Louis: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.

Other Works Consulted

  • Duffy CM, et al. (2005). Nomenclature and classification in chronic childhood arthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 52(2): 382–385.
  • Goldmuntz EA, White PH (2006). Juvenile idiopathic arthritis: A review for pediatricians. Pediatrics in Review, 27(4): e24–e32.
  • Simon L, et al. (2002). Treatment of pain in children and older adults with arthritis. In Guideline for the Management of Pain in Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Juvenile Chronic Arthritis, 2nd ed., chap. 5, pp. 119–129. Glenview, IL: American Pain Society.
  • Wilson D, et al. (2007). Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (juvenile idiopathic arthritis) section of The child with musculoskeletal or articular dysfunction. In Wong's Nursing Care of Infants and Children, 8th ed., chap. 39, pp. 1791–1798. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier.

Credits

By Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer John Pope, MD - Pediatrics
Specialist Medical Reviewer Stanford M. Shoor, MD - Rheumatology
Last Revised January 20, 2012

Last Revised: January 20, 2012

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: John Pope, MD - Pediatrics & Stanford M. Shoor, MD - Rheumatology

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