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Education critical to employment success for adults with juvenile arthritis
Educational achievement is the primary means for employment success for adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, with functional disability being more influential than disease subtype, according to study results.
Researchers in the United Kingdom conducted a cross-sectional study of 103 adults (22 males and 81 females) attending a juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) continuity clinic. The mean age of the patients in the study was 29.2 years, and the mean disease duration was 20.5 years. The JIA subtypes were: oligoarticular (n=40), polyarticular rheumatoid factor positive (n=23), polyarticular rheumatoid factor negative (n=17), systemic (n=10), and others (n=11), which included psoriatic arthritis and enthesitis-related arthritis.
Patients filled out the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), which measured functional disability (score 0-3, with 3 being the worst). Patients who were employed (P=.03) completed a Rheumatoid Arthritis Work Instability Score (RA-WIS). Researchers also measured educational achievement with scores in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), a UK public exam taken at age 16, using grades A to C. They also considered another public examination Advanced level (A level) as a measure for achievement at 18 years of age. They did not explore higher education achievements.
Among the patients, 64.1% were full- or part-time employees; the others were unemployed, in school or homemakers. The HAQ scores of employed patients (mean=0.83) were significantly lower (P=.028) than scores of the unemployed (mean=1.25), and they were unrelated to JIA subtypes when collated together (P=.33).
Suggesting that disease subtype did not impact GCSE achievement, the amount of A-C grades attained was not significantly different among JIA subtypes (P=.71). Achievement at A level was similar (P=.10). According to RA-WIS scores, job instability was strongly dependent on the HAQ score (P=6.36-16).
Researchers noted that the unemployment rate was three times higher for the adult JIA group than it was for the local population.
“Our study shows the impact of JIA on various employment outcomes,” Ajay Malviya, MS, MSc, a consultant orthopedic surgeon based at Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, said in a news release. “Further research that helps patients determine ideal career choices and take into account their disease activity is warranted.”