During discussion in class, I noticed that people were interested in whether or not age had a big part to play in the development of arthritis.
I have an aunt, my mom's younger sister, who was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and had her first surgery by the age of 2 or 3. By age 35, she had a knee replacement.
Looking into Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) here is what I found:
* It is a form of arthritis that affects children under the age of 16
* It affects mostly the larger joints like knees, wrists, ankles, and can affect hips and shoulders, as well as the fingers and toes.
* Commonly, stiffness of the joints after resting (naps, or a night's sleep) lasts about a half hour upon waking
* The cause is unknown
Generally, as in Rheumatoid Arthritis in adults, there is some kind of onset event which is undefined specifically, though it could be any array of things like something in the diet, confrontation with a toxin, bone growth as in spurs, allergies, or vitamin deficiency.
Although not a lot of specifics are known about Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis separately from adult onset arthritis, the symptoms appear to be the same as well as clinical diagnosis.
www.arthritis.org
This is very interesting to see arthritis in children since I think a lot of people associate arthritis with aging. I am assuming that JIA is similar to rheumatoid arthritis and is a type of autoimmune disease. My question is since the symptoms are pretty much the same, what makes JIA different from adult onset rheumatoid arthritis?
ReplyDeleteI had the same question, so I looked it up, and i'm under the impression that one of the differences between junior rheumatoid arthritis is that some people with JRA can outgrow it. Another interesting fact that I found was that about 70-80% of adults with RA have rheumatoid factor, but only half the children with RA have RF. So it seems that just based off of that, there is a correlation between RA prevalence and whether or not you present with a RF
DeleteI wonder if JIA could be caused by an autoimmune reaction to cartilage or some other type of tissue in the joint capsule. This makes me think of type II immunopathology!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that the cause seems to be unknown though. I can't imagine being a child with arthritis. A huge part of childhood is playing and being active, for a child with JIA, their life could be completely different.
I'm sure there has to be some autoimmune reaction associated with children with JIA because that is not normal to make at such a young age. I thought that was a great point to bring up from the immunology class though.
ReplyDeleteI have always associated arthritis with age, the older you get the more likely you will have some form of arthritis since my grandmother has osteoarthritis. It is sad thinking people under the age of 16 can have arthritis and the cause is unknown. Like Diana mentioned, as a child, you want to be able to run around, ride your bike, play sports, and JIA can potentially not allow children to be as active as children without JIA.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with Alexis on her point on the association of arthritis with age. When a person is diagnosed with arthritis, I would imagine that they would be around 50 or 60 years old. When the term JIA came about, the thoughts that I had were that it was an early form/stage of the arthritis or that it had occurred in a younger age group. When I had googled the term JIA, I had learned that there are many different types of JIA such as: Systemic onset JIA, Oligoarticular JIA, Polyarticular JIA, and Enthesitis-Related Arthritis.
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