Health outcomes in pediatric rheumatic diseases

Abstract

Purpose of review: Health outcomes in the pediatric rheumatic diseases have been a very active area of research in the past several years, with a significant number of published studies from the United States, Canada, and Europe. Although most studies have been in the area of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, there are increasing numbers of studies in juvenile dermatomyositis and juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus.

Recent findings: These studies suggest that although there has been an improvement in overall outcomes, active disease persists in significant proportions of individuals into adulthood, causing damage and disability. In juvenile idiopathic arthritis, this is particularly so for patients with systemic arthritis and polyarthritis with rheumatoid factor positivity who overall appear to have a poor prognosis.

Summary: With the current approach to treatment of all these diseases being more aggressive, one anticipates an improvement in these outcomes in the future. Better longitudinal outcome studies with larger inception cohorts of new-onset disease are required to ascertain whether this prediction can be upheld. Such studies are now ongoing.