– a strategy made possible with new therapies that have transformed treatment in recent years, including earlier treatment with methotrexate, expanding use of intra-articular glucocorticoids, and especially disease-modifying antibodies.
The guidelines, published online April 11 in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, are a departure from some others in that there is very little research supporting the approach they advocate. But there is precedent in adult disease. Research in adults with rheumatoid arthritis has shown that achievement of low levels of disease activity through frequent adjustments of therapy improves patient outcomes, no matter the treatment used.
Courtesy Cincinnati Children's
Dr. Daniel Lovell and Dr. Esi Morgan
Nevertheless, the time for aggressive treatment in children has come, according to Karen Onel, MD, chief of the division of pediatric rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York. She pointed out that joint and organ damage resulting from JIA can be permanent. “These guidelines are meant to be fluid, but we need to be committed to getting patients into remission as quickly as possible. Anything less than that is not OK,” said Dr. Onel, who did not participate in drafting the guidelines.
The guidelines make almost no mention of specific treatments, with the exception of an admonition to avoid long-term systemic glucocorticoid therapy. “It’s addressing a philosophy of care that is different than what most of us do in our daily practice,” Dr. Lovell said. The lack of medication specifics also ensures that the guidelines will be useful in a wide range of settings, since specific drugs may be unavailable in some countries, or unaffordable due to insurance considerations.
The guidelines and the community at large are battling a historical perception of JIA as a childhood disease that patients outgrow. That has led to conservative approaches to therapy in an attempt to spare children from toxicity. But with new treatment options, that approach is outdated. “We have an issue in pediatrics where many people feel, including families, that you should wait until the child is old enough to make these decisions on their own. But the reality is that if [JIA] is not fixed in childhood, it won’t be fixed in adulthood,” Dr. Onel said.
About half of JIA cases are handled by rheumatologists who primarily work with adults, and they tend to favor toxicity-sparing regimens. These practitioners must be convinced to be more aggressive in their treatment, but parents are critical as well. The guidelines emphasize communicating with parents the rationale behind a chosen treatment target, along with information on the disease and the benefits and risks of the medications to be prescribed. Parents may struggle to understand the need for aggressive treatment, especially those with young children.
Parents may even be socially stigmatized by peers who think dietary change and exercise should be sufficient. “It’s really unfair. Nobody says to a parent of a child with cancer that they are treating their children with poison. The same holds true for other childhood chronic diseases. For whatever reason, the risk of permanent disability from childhood arthritis is understated,” Dr. Onel said.