Junveile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is basically the same disease as rheumatoid arhritis in the adult. However juvenile rheumatoid arthritis has many features that differ from rheumatoid arthritis in the adult, and since the onset of the disease occurs before the age of puberty, variable alterations in growth may occur.
In this study, fifty cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis treated at Severance Hospital from January 1970 to December 1977 were analysed clinically and the following results were obtained.
1. By classification, the polyarticular type (46%) was most frequent, followed by the pauciarticular type (34%) and systemic type (20%) in order.
2. The most frequent joint affected was the knee (82%) followed by the ankle (60%), hand (22%), wrist (20%), etc.
3. The extra-articular manifestations on admission were high fever (40%), rash (16%), carditis (14%), lymphadenopathy (14%), etc.
4. Laboratory findings on admission showed increased ESR (88%), positive rheumatoid factor (15.5%), positive ANA (16.6%), etc.
5. Clinical symptoms were managed medically and surgically with aspirin, salicylates and steroids, physical therapy, and synovectomy.
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