Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec 21;21(1):149.
doi: 10.1186/s12969-023-00938-0.

Transition readiness among finnish adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Katriina Mikola  1 , Katariina Rebane  2 , Hannu Kautiainen  3   4 , Kristiina Aalto  2
Affiliations

Transition readiness among finnish adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Katriina Mikola et al. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: With chronic diseases, the responsibility for care transfers to adult clinics at some point. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common persistent rheumatic condition in children. A successful transition requires sufficient self-management skills to manage one´s chronic condition and all the tasks involved. In this study, we evaluated transition readiness in Finnish patients with JIA. We aimed to find practical tools to support a successful transition and to study the possible consequences of an unsuccessful transition.

Methods: The usefulness of a specific questionnaire, which was administered to 83 JIA patients, was evaluated in this study. We also gathered information from their first adult clinic visit to assess the success of their transition and its relation to disease activity.

Results: In 55 (71%) patients, the transition was estimated to be successful. We were able to determine a cut-off score in the questionnaire for a successful transition: the best estimate for a successful transition is when the score is 24 or more. At the first adult clinic visit, an unsuccessful transition was evident in its effect on disease outcome. If the transition was defined as successful, the DAS28 was better.

Conclusion: We found the questionnaire to be a useful tool for evaluating transition readiness. Determination of a successful transition helped us identify those adolescents who needed more profound support to improve their self-management skills and thus enhance their transition process. An unsuccessful transition was shown to negatively impact on disease outcomes.

Keywords: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Outcome; Self-management; Transition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The study did not receive any financial support or other benefits from commercial sources, and the authors have no financial interest, that can create a potential conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest. The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cumulative transition rate from paediatric to adult care in patients with JIA. Kaplan–Meier estimates of the cumulative transition. The grey area represents a 95% confidence interval
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
ROC curve for the accuracy of the PETRA-questionnaire in measuring the success of the transition. TPF = the true positive fraction; FNF = the false negative fraction. The 45° diagonal line serves as the reference line since it is the ROC curve of random classification
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ravelli A, Martini A. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Lancet Lond Engl. 2007;369(9563):767–78. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60363-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Glerup M, Rypdal V, Arnstad ED, Ekelund M, Peltoniemi S, Aalto K. Ym. Long-term outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: eighteen years of Follow-Up in the Population-based nordic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Cohort. Arthritis Care Res. 2020;72(4):507–16. doi: 10.1002/acr.23853. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McDonagh J, Farre A. Transitional Care in Rheumatology: a review of the literature from the past 5 years. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2019;21(10):1–10. doi: 10.1007/s11926-019-0855-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gabriel P, McManus M, Rogers K, White P. Outcome Evidence for Structured Pediatric To Adult Health Care Transition Interventions: a systematic review. J Pediatr. 2017;188:263–269e15. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.05.066. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Walter M, Kamphuis S, van Pelt P, de Vroed A, Hazes JMW. Successful implementation of a clinical transition pathway for adolescents with juvenile-onset rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. 2018;16(1):50–3. doi: 10.1186/s12969-018-0268-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed