Juvenile Arthritis News

Faced with an increasing incidence and prevalence of autoimmune disease in the United States —approximately 23.5 million Americans are affected across the country, according to the NIH — Bonnie Feldman, MBA, DDS, says it is time to acknowledge what she calls “an invisible epidemic.”

Children with enthesitis demonstrate worse patient-reported outcomes compared with those without, regardless of their category of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

More than 92% of adult-care rheumatologists are unsatisfied with the current process of transitioning young adults from pediatric to adult care, and nearly half report they were never trained to treat patients with juvenile-onset diseases, according to survey data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

More than 500 patient advocates met in Washington, D.C., this week in recognition of National Rare Disease Week, where they aim to educate and lobby members of Congress, as well as empower themselves to become better voices for those with conditions that seldom get the spotlight.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Despite various options, there is a similar safety profile across JAK inhibitors, according to an expert at the Annual Basic and Clinical Immunology for the Busy Clinician symposium.

Splashy headlines in the mainstream media that proclaim advances in medicine are often not what they seem. That may be the case with a recent series of FDA approvals surrounding the direct-to-consumer genetic testing platform, 23andMe.

Among patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, vitamin D deficiency is associated with higher disease activity, as well as an increased risk for anterior uveitis, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Researchers working with the Pediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organization have proposed a new, homogeneous list of four disorders that fall under juvenile idiopathic arthritis, down from the current seven, according to a consensus published in the Journal of Rheumatology.

The FDA has approved ACTPen, a single-dose prefilled autoinjector of tocilizumab, for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis who failed to respond to one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, and for adult patients with giant cell arteritis, according to a company press release.

Patients receiving the interleukin-1 inhibitor canakinumab for systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis maintained or improved their response to the drug over 5 years, with no new long-term safety concerns, according to findings published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.