How common is juvenile idiopathic arthritis?
About 1 in 1,000 children have juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).1 There are three types of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Pauciarticular JIA (also known as oligoarthritis) and polyarticular JIA (also known as polyarthritis) are most common in girls. Systemic JIA is equally common in boys and girls.2
The three types of JIA affect children at the following rates:3
- About 60% of all children with JIA have pauciarticular symptoms during the first 6 months. While as many as 1 in 5 of these children goes on to develop polyarticular symptoms, most continue to have less than 4 joints affected over time.4
- About 30% of all children with JIA have polyarticular symptoms.
- About 10% of all children with JIA have systemic symptoms.
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis can occur at higher rates among certain ethnic groups as well as in some geographic areas. Environmental and genetic factors are thought to be responsible, though researchers have yet to confirm this theory.4
- In the United States, children of African or European descent have similar rates of JIA.
- Some First Nations populations have increased rates of JIA. In British Columbia, First Nations children are over 3 times more likely to develop JIA than children of European descent in the same geographic area.
| Author: | Douglas Dana Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH | Last Updated: August 30, 2006 |
| Medical Review: | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics Ross E. Petty, MD, PhD, FRCPC - Pediatric Rheumatology | |
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