Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month encourages children to be #StrongerThanJA

Juvenile arthritis can impact the physical and emotional wellbeing of children in unique ways, manifesting in loneliness and depression, according to the Arthritis Foundation.

In recognition of Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month in July, the group is aiming to raise awareness to the physical and emotional struggles youth with arthritis experience. For example, the disease can cause these children to demonstrate chronic pain as well as depression, which can make it difficult for them to concentrate in school, hang out with friends, spend time with family, or just play and be a child.

About 300,000 children in the United States, or one in 250, are affected by juvenile arthritis, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Disease onset usually begins in children aged 2 years to 4 years, with girls more often impacted than boys.

To be part of raising awareness, the Arthritis Foundation encourages use of the hashtag #StrongerThanJA on social media.

In support of Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month, Healio recaps the latest news and research concerning juvenile arthritis, including FDA updates, transitional care readiness and new remission definitions.

FDA approves Kevzara for polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis

In June, the FDA approved the interleukin-6 inhibitor Kevzara (sarilumab; Sanofi, Regeneron) for the treatment of polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to a press release from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi.

Kevzara is approved to treat active disease among patients weighing 63 kg or greater. Read more.

TRAQ score predicts readiness to transition from pediatric to adult rheumatology care

Pediatric rheumatology patients could be considered ready to transfer to adult care if they score greater than 4 on the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire, according to data published in Rheumatology.

“The most appropriate age for starting [transitional care] remains undetermined,” Ezgi Deniz Batu, MD, MSc, of Hacettepe University, in Ankara, Turkey, and colleagues wrote. “Familial and cultural features also have an impact on the ideal age for transition. A standard tool for evaluating the transition/transfer readiness with a predetermined cut-off value is lacking. Moreover, most centers are still struggling with problems in [transitional care], such as inadequate financial resources and paucity/lack of medical staff dedicated to [transitional care].” Read more.

FDA approves Rinvoq for JIA, psoriatic arthritis in children aged 2 years and older

The FDA has expanded the indication of Rinvoq (upadacitinib, AbbVie) to include active, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and psoriatic arthritis among children aged 2 years and older, according to an AbbVie press release.

The announcement represents the first indication of Rinvoq for pediatric patients aged 2 years and older, the company said. To use the drug under the new indication, patients must have inadequate response or intolerance to at least one TNF inhibitor. Read more.

Childhood lupus remission definitions emphasize corticosteroid cessation

New definitions of remission specific to childhood systemic lupus erythematosus promote cessation of corticosteroids and could enable combined child-adult treat-to-target studies, according to an analysis published in Clinical Immunology.

The definitions were crafted by an international task force of pediatric subspecialists under the TARGET LUPUS research program. Read more.

FDA approves Benlysta autoinjector for at-home use in children with lupus

The FDA has approved a Benlysta (belimumab, GlaxoSmithKline) autoinjector for children aged 5 years and older with SLE, enabling at-home administration for the first time, according to a press release from the manufacturer.

Benlysta had previously been available to children only through IV infusion in a hospital or clinic. The newly approved 200 mg injection will now be available for patients aged 5 years and older with active SLE who are receiving standard therapy, if deemed appropriate by a health care provider. Read more.

Nearly 40% of children with oligoarthritis need no other therapy after steroid injection

Nearly 40% of children with oligoarticular JIA treated with intra-articular corticosteroids required no additional therapy, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

The study aimed to bring clarity to the early stages of oligoarthritis, the most common form of JIA, when parents are worried about long-term outcomes, Mojca Zajc Avramovi, MD, of the Children’s Hospital at University Medical Center Ljubljana in Slovenia, told Healio. Read more.

Lupus racial disparities worse in children’s hospitals that serve more Black patients

Disparities in lupus ICU admission and renal outcomes between Black and white children are greater in children’s hospitals serving more Black patients, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

“Clinicians will recognize that the relationship between health care disparities and the characteristics of the communities they serve is really complicated — it’s not all about individual patient characteristics,” Joyce C. Chang, MD, MSCE, of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told Healio. “We have to think beyond patient-provider interactions to consider broader societal forces and their interactions with health systems.” Read more.

References:

Arthritis Foundation. July Is Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month. https://www.arthritis.org/news/july-is-juvenile-arthritis-awareness-month. Accessed June 21, 2024.

Arthritis Foundation. Juvenile arthritis and depression. https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/emotional-well-being/anxiety-depression/juvenile-arthritis-and-depression. Accessed June 21, 2024.