“Arthritis” means joint inflammation. This term refers to a group of diseases that cause pain, swelling, stiffness, and loss of motion in the joints. Juvenile arthritis (JA) is a term often used to describe arthritis in children that last for more than 6 continuous weeks. It is divided into seven separate subtypes, each with its own characteristics and symptoms. Although arthritis is seen most commonly in adults, children can also develop almost all types of arthritis that affect adults, but the most common type that affects children is juvenile idiopathic arthritis. About 300,000 children are currently diagnosed with JA in the United States.
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) are both classification systems for chronic arthritis in children. Pediatric rheumatologists have developed a juvenile idiopathic arthritis classification system, which includes different types of chronic arthritis that affect children this includes oligoarthrits, polyarthritis, systemic, enthesitis related, juvenile psoriatic arthritis and undifferentiated.