Predictors of pain in children with established juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

✍ Scribed by Malleson, Peter N. ;Oen, Kiem ;Cabral, David A. ;Petty, Ross E. ;Rosenberg, Alan M. ;Cheang, Mary

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 71 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.20238

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To examine demographic and disease-related variables that affect pain in a large cohort of patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (jra).

Methods:

Selection criteria were an onset of jra >/=5 years prior to study and age >/=8 years at the time of the study. pain was measured by a self-administered 10-cm visual analog scale. possible explanatory variables studied included age at study, sex, race, onset subtype, active disease duration, active joint count, and physician's global assessment (pga).

Results:

In a multiple regression model, active disease duration, pga, and age at study were independent predictors explaining 22% of the variation in pain scores. stratified analyses showed an effect of age in the 8-15-year group, but not in older patients.

Conclusion:

Disease-related factors explain only a small proportion of the variation in pain scores. age has an effect on pain scores only in younger patients. the role of other factors, including psychosocial factors, needs further study.