Many parents have concerns about how to treat their children with JRA in regards to sports, school, discipline, and special restrictions. Some of the children have arthritis ranging from very mild limited joint involvement to severe systemic disease associated with high fever, rash, and lymph node enlargement. We will explain the different types of JRA in more detail. The name of the diagnosis could change again in a few years as the pediatric rheumatologists around the world discuss and learn more about the disease.
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of arthritis in children.
It is a chronic disease. This means it will probably last a long time. The number of new cases per year is estimated at nine per 100,000 population. These numbers would tell us that about 40-50 children in the Greater Cincinnati area will be diagnosed with JRA this year. The diagnosis is made by the presence of persistent arthritis for a minimum of six weeks in one or more joints.