Follow-up study of 100 cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Although juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) was first described by Cornil (1864) and by Still (1897), the paediatrician often encounters aetiological, diagnostic, and prognostic problems. The purpose of the present follow-up study is to review our experience of this disease in recent years in an attempt to add to our knowledge of its natural history and in particular to clarify the long-term prognosis of JRA and the factors affecting it. As far as we can ascertain the previous review articles in Britain on JRA were published by Colver (1937), Ansell and Bywaters (1959), and Schlesinger, Forsyth, White, Smellie, and Stroud (1961). To-day most would agree that Still's disease is but one part of a larger spectrum of rheumatoid disease in adults and children (Bywaters, 1971; Calabro and Marchesano, 1967), although age at onset still seems to be an important factor in its presentation and evolution.