A Holistic Approach of Children with JIA

Introduction All chronic childhood arthritides of unknown aetiology are termed as Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis ( JIA). The disease may occur as early as 3–6 years of age, but it occasionally manifests before one year of age. JIA is the most common chronic rheumatic disease in childhood with an incidence of 10-19/100.000 children under the age of 16 years, and it is a major cause of physically disabling conditions and reduced quality of life in childhood [1,2,3,4]. In a study conducted in Turkey, the prevalence was found to be 64/100.000 [5]. JIA represents a group of clinically heterogenous arthritides that begin under the age of 16 years with unknown cause. Joint pain, stiffness and swelling that persist for longer than six weeks are presenting symptoms [1,3,4]. According to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) classification, JIA is subdivided into seven categories each representing a unique form of childhood arthritis, and is not the same disease as adult rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [6,7,8]. Diagnosis of JIA by the ILAR criteria requires the presence or absence of specific serologic findings, systemic manifestations and the number of joints affected [4,9]. For childhood arthritis, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009) list at least three clinical classification schemes: juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile chronic arthritis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis ( JIA) [10]. JIA is further Abstract