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. 2024 Aug 9;22(1):74.
doi: 10.1186/s12969-024-01012-z.

Uncovering the hidden socioeconomic impact of juvenile idiopathic arthritis and paving the way for other rare childhood diseases: an international, cross-disciplinary, patient-centered approach (PAVE Consortium)

Deborah A Marshall  1   2   3   4 , Brittany Gerber  1 , Gillian R Currie  5   6   7   8 , Jordi Antón  9   10   11 , Lien De Somer  12   13 , Michelle Dey  14 , Tsipi Egert  15 , Yona Egert  15 , Lia Henan  16 , Jens Klotsche  17 , Laura Martinez Mifsut  18 , Kirsten Minden  17   19 , Christophe Normand  20 , David Porte  21 , Rotraud K Saurenmann  22 , Joost F Swart  23   24 , Yosef Uziel  25   26 , Jennifer Wilson  21 , Carine Wouters  12   13 , Amit Ziv  16 , Susanne M Benseler  2   27   28 ; PAVE Consortium
Collaborators, Affiliations

Uncovering the hidden socioeconomic impact of juvenile idiopathic arthritis and paving the way for other rare childhood diseases: an international, cross-disciplinary, patient-centered approach (PAVE Consortium)

Deborah A Marshall et al. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. .

Abstract

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) refers to a heterogeneous group of rheumatic conditions in children. Novel drugs have greatly improved disease outcomes; however, outcomes are impacted by limited awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and adequate treatment, and by differences in access across health systems. As a result, patients with JIA continue to be at risk for short- and long-term morbidity, as well as impacts on virtually all aspects of life of the child and family.

Main body: Literature on the socioeconomic burden of JIA is largely focused on healthcare costs, and the impact of JIA on patients, families, and communities is not well understood. High quality evidence on the impact of JIA is needed to ensure that patients are receiving necessary support, timely diagnostics, and adequate treatment, and to inform decision making and resource allocation. This commentary introduces the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases: Producing an Arthritis Value Framework with Economic Evidence: Paving the Way for Rare Childhood Diseases (PAVE) project, which will co-develop a patient-informed value framework to measure the impact of JIA on individuals and on society. With a patient-centered approach, fundamental to PAVE is the involvement of three patient advocacy organizations from Canada, Israel, and Europe, as active research partners co-designing all project phases and ensuring robust patient and family engagement. The framework will build on the findings of projects from six countries: Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, and Belgium, exploring costs, outcomes (health, well-being), and unmet needs (uveitis, mental health, equity).

Conclusion: This unique international collaboration will combine evidence on costs (from family to societal), outcomes (clinical, patient and family outcomes), and unmet needs, to co-design and build a framework with patients and families to capture the full impact of JIA. The framework will support the development of high-quality evidence, encompassing economic and clinical considerations, unmet needs, and patient perspectives, to inform equitable resource allocation, health system planning, and quality of care better aligned with the needs of children with JIA, their families, and communities. Knowledge gained from this novel approach may pave the way forward to be applied more broadly to other rare childhood diseases.

Keywords: Childhood Arthritis; International collaboration; Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis; Participatory research; Patient-centered research; Patient-partnered research; Rare disease; Socioeconomic burden.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing interests to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Project overview: Producing an arthritis value framework with economic evidence – paving the way for rare childhood diseases. ICON: German Inception Cohort of Patients with Newly Diagnosed JIA; JIA: juvenile idiopathic arthritis; SEB: socioeconomic burden; WP: work package
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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