Introduction. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic inflammatory
disease associated with decreased functional capacity and potentially
long-term consequences. The establishment of early prognostic factors could
help in the prevention of joint damage and improve the quality of life in
children with JIA. Objective. The aim of the study was to evaluate the
functional status of children with JIA by using the Childhood Health
Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and to assess its ability in predicting the
outcome of the disease. Methods. The study included 87 patients, average age
14 years, under follow-up on the average of 3.7 years. Parents/ patients over
12 years completed CHAQ based on which disability index (DI) was calculated.
Disease outcome was determined according to the preliminary criteria for
clinical remission. Results. At the end of the follow-up period, functional
ability improved significantly (0.541 vs. 0.398; p<0.05). During the study,
in 52.8% of patients treatment with biologic drug etanercept was introduced.
CHAQ showed good predictive validity when a baseline DI was compared with
disease outcome at the final examination (F=18.349; p<0.001). Using the
patients with normal functional ability (DI=0) as the reference group, in
patients with moderate and more severe functional disability the odds ratio
for the disease to be active at the end of the follow-up period (DI?0.6) was
4.6 (p=0.044). Conclusion. Functional ability of patients with JIA
significantly improved during the follow-up period owing to the efficient
therapy. The questionnaire for the assessment of the functional status is a
simple tool, with good ability to predict disease outcome, and should thus be
used in everyday clinical practice with the aim to identify patients with
poor prognosis.
Ability of the childhood health assessment questionnaire in predicting outcome of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis
