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Opioid therapy for the treatment of refractory pain in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Nature Clinical Practice Rheumatology volume 2, pages 636–637 (2006)Cite this article

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is a common chronic childhood disease.1 Despite its wide prevalence and the recent availability of a range of new treatment options, empirical data informing treatment are limited. This limitation is particularly evident in the management of pain in patients with JRA.

Before the introduction of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologic agents for treating chronic arthritis in children, early studies on pain associated with JRA suggested nearly half of those diagnosed with JRA continued to report at least mild pain up to 5 years after disease onset,2 with a third of patients reporting severe pain as adults.3 Despite the subsequent widespread use of DMARDs and biologic agents, recent studies have documented that pain remains poorly controlled in many patients with JRA. For example, we have shown that 25% of children receiving standard treatments for polyarticular arthritis still reported pain intensity in the highest ranges of pain measurement scales and 39% of children reported pain on a daily basis.4

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City

    Mark Connelly

  2. University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO

    Mark Connelly

  3. the Co-Chief of the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology and an Associate Professor of the Department of Pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Laura Schanberg

Authors
  1. Mark Connelly
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  2. Laura Schanberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Schanberg.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Connelly, M., Schanberg, L. Opioid therapy for the treatment of refractory pain in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Nat Rev Rheumatol 2, 636–637 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncprheum0351

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncprheum0351

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