Children with arthritis have better outcomes today than ever before

Children with juvenile arthritis have a much higher quality of life today than 25 years ago, scientists outlined at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in San Diego.

A team from the University of Genoa in Italy looked at the records of 1,079 children who were treated for juvenile arthritis between 1987 and 2012 and assessed changes in disease activity and physical disability.

They found a progressive decline in the levels of disease activity and disability in children with juvenile arthritis over the 25-year study period, explained by the advances in the management of the disease.

Children now can benefit from using methotrexate early-on, corticosteroid injections and biologic drugs.

“Twenty years ago, the future was bleak for many youngsters with severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis and it wasn’t uncommon for some children to end up in a wheelchair,” says a spokeswoman for Arthritis Research UK. “That the situation is so improved is largely due to the advent of anti-TNF therapy, which we pioneered for adults with rheumatoid arthritis, but which has also had a transforming effect on the lives of thousands of young people under the age of 17.”