The  Childhood Health Assessment Question naire ( C-HAQ )  was the most extensively studied instrument and had high reliability , but only moderate correlations with other indices of disease activity and poor responsiveness to change in disease status .
The physician global assessment of disease activity ( PGA ) and articular indices had the strongest association with disease activity and were the most responsive to change .
Measures of psychosocial function and quality of life were moderately associated with measures of disease activity , but were less responsive to changes in disease status .
In children with JIA , no single instrument was superior in reliability or validity or in describing the impact of JIA .
Although the C-HAQ has been extensively evaluated , the PGA and articular indices appear to have the highest responsiveness to change and , therefore , the highest potential for detecting important differences in treatment response
OBJECTIVE To review the performance characteristics of the instruments most commonly used to measure clinical outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis ( JIA ) , including global assessment s , articular indices , functional/disability assessment s , and quality of life measures .
METHODS As part of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality comparative effectiveness review of antirheumatic drugs , we explored the characteristics of commonly used outcome measures for JIA .
Preliminary definition of disease flare in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
OBJECTIVE To develop preliminary criteria for defining disease flare in patients with polyarticular-course juvenile rheumatoid arthritis ( JRA ) . METHODS Data from a r and omized clinical trial of etanercept in JRA ( 51 patients ) and the 6 core response variables ( CRV ) for JRA were used to derive flare definitions . The criterion st and ard of flare was treatment with placebo . C and i date flare definitions were assessed by receiver-operator characteristic ( ROC ) curve properties and other statistics for diagnostic tests . RESULTS Of the possible flare definitions tested with acceptable statistical properties , the one that seemed to be the most useful was worsening in any 2/6 CRV by > or = 40 % without improvement in more than 1 of the remaining CRV by > or = 30 % . Two other superior flare definitions were ( 1 ) worsening in 3/6 CRV by > or = 30 % and ( 2 ) any worsening of the Childhood Health Assessment Question naire , worsening of erythrocyte sedimentation rate by > or = 30 % and worsening of the active joint count by > or = 10 % . CONCLUSIONS CRV are useful for defining flare in JRA . Worsening in any 2/6 CRV by > or = 40 % without concomitant improvement of more than one of the remaining CRV by > or = 30 % appears to be the most suitable preliminary flare definition . Because the proposed flare criteria were derived from a small number of patients , it is essential to perform more definitive testing of this and several alternative flare definitions in larger patient population
The  Childhood Health Assessment Question naire ( C-HAQ )  was the most extensively studied instrument and had high reliability , but only moderate correlations with other indices of disease activity and poor responsiveness to change in disease status .
The physician global assessment of disease activity ( PGA ) and articular indices had the strongest association with disease activity and were the most responsive to change .
Measures of psychosocial function and quality of life were moderately associated with measures of disease activity , but were less responsive to changes in disease status .
In children with JIA , no single instrument was superior in reliability or validity or in describing the impact of JIA .
Although the C-HAQ has been extensively evaluated , the PGA and articular indices appear to have the highest responsiveness to change and , therefore , the highest potential for detecting important differences in treatment response
OBJECTIVE To review the performance characteristics of the instruments most commonly used to measure clinical outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis ( JIA ) , including global assessment s , articular indices , functional/disability assessment s , and quality of life measures .
METHODS As part of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality comparative effectiveness review of antirheumatic drugs , we explored the characteristics of commonly used outcome measures for JIA .