Children with arthritis adapt well to the disease

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Unlike other rheumatic
diseases, systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (SJRA) — an
inflammatory disease affecting numerous joints — is not
associated with thinking impairments or increased social and
emotional problems in young patients, suggests a study
conducted in Germany.

“This result may support the premise that children and
adolescents with SJRA adapt successfully to their chronic
disease,” Dr. Reinhold Feldmann from University Hospital of
Munster told Reuters Health.

As reported in the medical journal Annals of Neurology,
Feldmann and colleagues investigated the mental performance and
fine motor skills as well as the social abilities of 31
children and adolescents with SJRA and 31 healthy comparison
children.

There were no differences in IQ scores between children
with SJRA and healthy kids, the investigators report. Both
groups performed within the normal limits of intelligence.
There were also no between-group differences in memory and
learning, attention and fine motor scores.

While the parents of the SJRA subjects reported less social
activities than did parents of the control subjects, the social
and emotional problem scores were not markedly different
between the groups and both were in the normal range, Feldmann
and colleagues report.

SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, October 2005.