Update on the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

ABSTRACT

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. Although the pathophysiology behind this disease is poorly understood, there are effective treatments for JIA based on the subtype of disease. Treatment options include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, intra-articular glucocorticoid injections, and traditional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs such as methotrexate. In the past decade, the use of biologic therapy in JIA, including tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, interleukin-1 inhibitors, and interleukin-6 inhibitors, has dramatically increased with promising outcomes.