*** Welcome to piglix ***

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
The diseases of children - medical and surgical (1900) (14781042361).jpg
Classification and external resources
Specialty rheumatology
ICD-10 M08.0
ICD-9-CM 714.3
OMIM 604302
DiseasesDB 12430
MedlinePlus 000451
eMedicine ped/1749
Patient UK Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
MeSH D001171
[]

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), also known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), is the most common form of arthritis in children and adolescents. (Juvenile in this context refers to an onset before age 16,idiopathic refers to a condition with no defined cause, and arthritis is the inflammation of the synovium of a joint.)

JIA is an autoimmune, non-infective, inflammatory joint disease of more than 6 weeks duration in children less than 16 years of age. The disease commonly occurs in children from the ages of 1 to 6, but it may develop as late as old as 15 years of age. It is a subset of arthritis seen in childhood, which may be transient and self-limited or chronic. It differs significantly from arthritis commonly seen in adults (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis), and other types of arthritis that can present in childhood which are chronic conditions (e.g. psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis). Aetiopathology is similar to rheumatoid arthritis but with less marked cartilage erosion, and joint instability and absent rheumatoid factor.

JIA affects approximately 1 in 1,000 children in any given year, with about 1 in 10,000 having a more severe form.

The terminology used is evolving, and each term has some limitations.

According to some sources, JIA replaces the term juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Other sources still use the latter term.

JIA is sometimes referred to as juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA), a term that is not precise as JIA does not encompass all forms of chronic childhood arthritis.

A majority of cases are rheumatoid factor negative, which leads some to consider the "chronic" or "idiopathic" labels more appropriate. However, if a cause was determined, then "idiopathic" may no longer be appropriate (making JIA a diagnosis of exclusion), and if the course was self-limited, then "chronic" may no longer be appropriate.


...
Wikipedia

...