The term Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis refers to arthritis that starts before you are 16 years old where the cause is unknown.

It is not generally appreciated that arthritis is one of the most common physically disabling diseases in children and adolescents.  Arthritis can affect children of any age but it mostly begins during pre-school and early school years.

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Arthritis affects 1 in 1000 children in the UK making it more common than diseases like cystic fibrosis and just as common as childhood diabetes.  In spite of this, many people assume arthritis only affects 'older adults' and are unaware children and young people can have it too, affecting critical times of growth in their lives.

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The disease can be very mild, or on occasions it can affect every aspect of a child's life and health. Changes in treatment and the understanding of the disease has meant that there is a great deal that can be done to manage the symptoms.

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While some children will simply grow out of the disease, this is not the case for everyone and at the moment there is no cure.

Some of our committee members are parents with children suffering from JIA, and now two of the children helped by KLU in the past have joined us as committee members.  They are all happy to talk to parents about what JIA has and does mean for them on a day to day basis.  If you would like to get in touch with them, just contact us and we will send them your e-mail address so that they can contact you directly. Alternatively, give us a call on the above number.

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The National Paediatric Rheumatology Clinical Studies group have designed a patient friendly leaflet of clinical research studies currently open in the UK to children and young people with JIA.  If you would like to see the current leaflet, please use the link below.  As we receive details we will continue to update this document.

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If you need any help with school and making reasonable adjustments for our JIA warriors you might find the link below useful.

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