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What is juvenile arthritis? Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or JRA is often times called juvenile chronic arthritis or juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and it is a childhood disease that causes inflamed, swollen joints that can be stiff and painful. Juvenile arthritis affects 1 in 1,000 kids under the age of 16. With the advances in medical technology and research, more accurate diagnosis of arthritis is kids more easily determined.

The difference between adult arthritis and juvenile arthritis is that for children it is not a long-term disease and disability, and most kids that have been diagnosed with the disease go on to lead normal healthy adult lives.

Causes of juvenile arthritis

In the medical community, the causes are not well-understood. However, most experts agree that juvenile arthritis is caused by a couple of factors, including an overly active immune system that incorrectly attacks joint tissues, viral or bacterial infections that may trigger autoimmune process, as well as genetic factors that make a child's immune system more like to react incorrectly.

Symptoms of Juvenile Arthritis Include:

Joint pain
Abnormal gait
Joint stiffness that lost longer than 1 hour in the morning
Synovial membranes lining the joints become inflamed for more than 6 weeks
Inflammatory eye disease
Irritability, refusal to walk because of pain
Fever
Rash

If you are concerned that your child may have Juvenile arthritis, then you should know that he or she can be can be diagnosed by a pediatrician utilizing your child's medical history and a physical examination, including the pattern and nature of joint symptoms, and a few lab tests like a CBC, sed rate, rheumatoid factor, ANA, urinalysis and a strep test.

Children with juvenile arthritis are most often treated with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy and sometime corticosteroid injections directly into the joints are necessary. If a child does not respond to these treatments, then, methotrexate or other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs can be used. In rare cases, surgery is performed to correct a severe deformity that has developed because of the juvenile arthritis.

Learn more about this author, Brenda Segna.
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