Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Quality of life in children suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis

  • Observational Research
  • Published:
Rheumatology International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Uveitis (JIA-U), the most common extra-articular manifestation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), may cause severe impairment of vision in children and affect their quality of life (QoL). Considering the lack of uveitis-related QoL assessment questionnaire, and multidimensional nature of the Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report (JAMAR), commonly used for monitoring and assessing the health status of children with JIA, we performed a cross-sectional study to investigate the potential of the JAMAR in estimation of QoL in children suffering from JIA-U. The study included 42 children with JIA, 21 of whom had JIA-U. Both children and their parents completed the JAMAR. We compared two groups of children (JIA-U and JIA without uveitis) and their parents against five extracted questionnaires items (QoL, functional ability, pain level, disease activity estimation, and current emotional state of the child) using the independent-samples t test to verify the differences and the Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the strength of a linear association between variables. No significant statistical difference in any of the examined variables was found between the two groups of children. In the groups of parents, current emotional state of children with JIA-U was assessed to be significantly worse (t = 2.05, p < 0.05) and the overall level of functioning significantly lower (t = 2.03, p < 0.05) than children without uveitis. Our results suggest the need for adding the uveitis-specific questionnaires items to JAMAR to improve its sensitivity and specificity in the assessment of QoL in children suffering from JIA-U, as well as designing a second assessment tool such as uveitis-specific questionnaires.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Filocamo G, Consolaro A, Schiappapietra B et al (2011) A new approach to clinical care of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: the Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report. J Rheumatol 38:938–953. https://doi.org/10.3899/jrheum.100930

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bovis F, Consolaro A, Pistorio A et al (2018) Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report (JAMAR) in 54 languages across 52 countries: review of the general methodology. Rheumatol Int 38:5–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-018-3944-1

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Wulffraat N, Kamphuis S, Swart JF et al (2018) Paediatric rheumatology international trials organisation (PRINTO). The Dutch version of the Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report (JAMAR). Rheumatol Int 38:139–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-018-3971-y

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Foeldvari I, Klotsche J, Simonini G et al (2019) Proposal for a definition for response to treatment, inactive disease and damage for JIA associated uveitis based on the validation of a uveitis related JIA outcome measures from the multinational interdisciplinary working group for uveitis in childhood (MIWGUC). Pediatr Rheumatol Online J 17:66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12969-019-0345-2

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Angeles-Han ST (2015) Quality-of-life metrics in pediatric uveitis. Int Ophthalmol Clin 55:93–101. https://doi.org/10.1097/IIO.0000000000000067

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Solebo AL, Barry RJ, Keane PA, Rahi JS, Denniston AK (2019) Under-utilisation of reproducible, child appropriate or patient reported outcome measures in childhood uveitis interventional research. Orphanet J Rare Dis 14:125. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-019-1108-3

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Petty RE, Southwood TR, Manners P et al (2004) International league of associations for rheumatology classification of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: second revision, Edmonton, 2001. J Rheumatol 31:390–392

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Chan YH (2003) Biostatistics 104: correlational analysis. Singapore Med J 44:614–619

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Ding T, Hall A, Jacobs K et al (2008) Psychological functioning of children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis is related to physical disability but not to disease status. Rheumatology (Oxford) 47:660–664. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/ken095

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Vandvik IH (1990) Mental health and psychosocial functioning in children with recent onset of rheumatic disease. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 31:961–971. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1990.tb00837.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Angeles-Han ST, McCracken C, Yeh S et al (2015) Characteristics of a cohort of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and JIA-associated uveitis. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J 13:19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12969-015-0018-8

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Wong HB, Machin D, Tan SB et al (2009) Visual impairment and its impact on health-related quality of life in adolescents. Am J Ophthalmol 147:505–511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2008.09.025

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Angeles-Han ST, Griffin KW, Harrison MJ et al (2011) Development of a vision-related quality of life instrument for children ages 8–18 years for use in juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 63:1254–1261. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.20524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Angeles-Han ST, Griffin KW, Lehman TJ et al (2010) The importance of visual function in the quality of life of children with uveitis. J AAPOS 14:163–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaapos.2009.12.160

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Angeles-Han ST, Yeh S, McCracken C et al (2015) Using the effects of youngsters’ eyesight on quality of life questionnaire to measure visual outcomes in children with uveitis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 67:1513–1520. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22627

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No specific grant from any public or commercial agency was received for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia

    Mario Sestan, Danica Grguric, Maja Sedmak, Marijan Frkovic, Nastasia Kifer, Marina Grubic & Marija Jelusic

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia

    Sanja Peric & Nenad Vukojevic

  3. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia

    Kristina Potocki

Authors
  1. Mario Sestan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Danica Grguric
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maja Sedmak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marijan Frkovic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nastasia Kifer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Marina Grubic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Sanja Peric
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Nenad Vukojevic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Kristina Potocki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Marija Jelusic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

MS, MF, NK, SP, NV and KP contributed to the acquisition and interpretation of data for the work: they examined the patients, performed rheumatologic and ophthalmologic assessments and contributed to interpretation of the study data and writing the manuscript. DG, MS and MG contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data for the work: they performed the statistics, developed the figures, analyzed and interpreted the study data and contributed to writing the manuscript. MJ contributed to the conception and design of the work, organized the study, reviewed and revised the manuscript and supervised the project. All authors read and approved the final manuscript to be published. All co-authors are fully responsible for all aspects of the study and the final manuscript. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marija Jelusic.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors M. Sestan, D. Grguric, M. Sedmak, M. Frkovic, N. Kifer, M. Grubic, S. Peric, N. Vukojevic, K. Potocki and M. Jelusic declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia (date: June 7, 2016; Protocol Number–Class: 8.1-16/94-2, Number: 02/21 AG).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The results of this research are briefly presented in congress abstract publication: Sestan M, Grguric D, Sedmak M, Kifer N, Frkovic M, Peric S, Potocki K, Vukojevic N, Jelusic M (2019) Quality of life in juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis: do we need a new assessment questionnaire? Ann Rheum Dis 78:1330. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-eular.5013

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sestan, M., Grguric, D., Sedmak, M. et al. Quality of life in children suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis. Rheumatol Int 40, 1117–1121 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-020-04536-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-020-04536-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation