Kids with arthritis often disabled
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although many children with so-called juvenile idiopathic arthritis have a low level of disease, about one in five have moderate to severe disability, Italian researchers report.
“These findings,” Dr. Angelo Ravelli told Reuters Health, “underscore the critical need for treatments and treatment strategies that have the ability to better control disease activity.”
Ravelli, at Istituto G. Gaslini in Genoa, and his colleagues studied a sample of children who had had juvenile arthritis for at least five years.
Most of the 310 children in the study had relatively mild disease and little if any physical impairment, the investigators report in the medical journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.
However, 19 percent of them were classified as having moderate to severe disability.
The investigators found that although most patients had a satisfactory quality of life, it was severely impaired for 10 percent of the children.
Ravelli’s team points out that “for the most part, the study findings reflect the disease outcomes achieved with conventional treatment,” because most children were diagnosed before the availability of new biological agents that can alter the course of arthritis.
SOURCE: Arthritis & Rheumatism, November 15, 2008.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Related Posts:
By Michelle Rizzo NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Physical activity levels are low in adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and this appears to be unrelated to disease activity, study findings in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism indicate. “The beneficial effects of physical activity on normal growth and development of children and adolescents have been widely recognized,” write
Full Post: Juvenile arthritis teens less physically active
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In children with arthritis, the time from diagnosis to the start of treatment with methotrexate appears to be an important predictor of their response to the drug at 6 months, Dutch investigators report. “Our results suggest that earlier initiation of methotrexate treatment will lead to an increased response,” Dr. R. ten
Full Post: Kids with arthritis benefit from early treatment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 54 million U.S. residents, or about 19 percent of the population, have some sort of disability, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Thursday. The numbers, based on 2005 data, are up slightly from the 2002 survey when 51.2 million people or 18 percent reported a disability, the census found. About 46 percent
Full Post: More than 54 million disabled in U.S., census says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Anne Harding NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Doctor-patient communication can be fraught with misunderstanding, a new study confirms. After 74 meetings between people with severe arthritis of the knee and physicians to discuss treatment, nearly 20 percent of the time, the patient and physician disagreed on whether or not the doctor had recommended knee replacement surgery. “That’s
Full Post: Messages often muddled in doctor-patient talks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with chronic illnesses or disability can often benefit from the right exercise program, showing improved quality of life, greater aerobic capacity and better function, according to a report published this month. But chronically ill or disabled children and teens who aren’t active can get out of shape and too fat,
Full Post: Chronically ill or disabled kids need exercise, too