autoimmune disease blog

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or juvenile arthritis, commonly affected someone with age between 6 months to 16 years. The early signs of the disease are swelling, joint pain and reddened or warm joints.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is not a single disease, but a group of diseases. Many rheumatologists find that the greater the number of joints affected, the more severe the disease and the less likely that the symptoms will eventually go into total remission.

The three major types of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis are:

1. Systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, affects many systems of the body. Children may have high fevers, skin rashes, and problems caused by inflammation of the internal organs such as the heart, spleen, liver, and other parts of the digestive tract. It usually, but not always, begins in early childhood. Medical professionals sometimes call this Still’s disease. This type accounts for about 20% of cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
2. Oligoarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which affects four or fewer joints. Symptoms include pain, stiffness, or swelling in the joints. The knee and wrist joints are the most commonly affected. An inflammation of the iris  may occur with or without active joint symptoms. This inflammation, called iridocyclitis, iritis, or uveitis, can be detected early by an ophthalmologist.
3. Polyarticular arthritis, a disease affects only a few joints, fewer than 5. The large joints, such as the shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee, are most likely to be affected. This type of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is most common in children younger than 8 years. Children who develop this disease have a 20-30 percent chance of developing inflammatory eye problems and need frequent eye examinations. Children who develop this disease when older than 8 years have a higher-than-normal risk of developing an adult form of arthritis. About 50 percent of all children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis have this type.