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 .
Methotrexate improves the health-related quality of life of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
OBJECTIVES To examine the change in health-related quality of life ( HRQOL ) and its determinants in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis ( JIA ) treated with methotrexate ( MTX ) .  METHODS Patients were extracted from the PRINTO clinical trial which aim ed to evaluate the efficacy and safety profile of MTX administered in st and ard , intermediate or higher doses ( 10 , 15 and 30 mg/m(2)/week respectively ) . Children with polyarticular-course JIA , who were less than 18 years and had a complete HRQOL assessment were included . RESULTS A total of 521 children were included . At baseline , patients with JIA showed poorer HRQOL ( p<0.01 ) than healthy children . In 207/412 ( 50 % ) and 63 ( 15 % ) children , HRQOL values were 2 st and ard deviations below the mean of healthy controls in the physical and psychosocial summary scale , respectively . After 6 months of treatment with st and ard dose MTX , there was a statistically significant improvement in all HRQOL health concepts , particularly the physical ones . Similar improvements were observed in those who did not respond to a st and ard dose of MTX and were subsequently r and omised to a higher dose . The presence of marked disability at baseline was associated with a fivefold increased risk of retaining poor physical health after 6 months of active treatment with st and ard dose MTX . Other less important determinants of retaining poor physical well-being were the baseline level of systemic inflammation , pain intensity and an antinuclear-antibody-negative status . CONCLUSIONS MTX treatment produces a significant improvement across a wide range of HRQOL components , particularly in the physical domains , in patients with JIA
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 .