An autoimmune disease is a disease where the immune system attacks the body's own healthy cells. Autoimmune disease can affect many parts of the body and there are about 80 autoimmune diseases. Reasons for autoimmune diseases are unknown but most are looking at a patient's genetics.
With juvenile arthritis, it may involve two steps; family history and a virus. Something in the child's genes (passed from parents to children) makes the child more likely to get arthritis, and something like a virus then sets off the arthritis. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is the most common type of juvenile arthritis to affect children.
Juvenile arthritis patients may have issues maintaining employment as adults
As children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) grow into adulthood, disability due to disease may adversely affect their ability to achieve educational success. Findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), suggest that functional disability impacts educational attainment, which is key to successful employment in adulthood.
Arthritis is a joint disorder characterized by painful inflammation, swelling, and stiffness that can damage joints and lead to disability. When chronic arthritis strikes those under 16 years of age it s referred to as JIA and affects 294,000 children in the U.S. according to the ACR. In the past two decades, studies have shown that early, aggressive treatment with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) like methotrexate, or biological drugs known as tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors such as adalimumab (Humira), can improve long-term outcomes for JIA patients.
