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Quality of life issues in pediatric immune-mediated inflammatory disease

Ciarán M Duffy1, George A Wells, Anthony S Russell

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, University of Ottawa, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. cduffy@cheo.on.ca

The Journal of Rheumatology. Supplement
|November 3, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Children with chronic inflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) have lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This review covers tools used to measure HRQOL in these pediatric conditions.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Rheumatology
  • Pediatric Gastroenterology
  • Health Outcomes Research

Background:

  • Children with chronic inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), experience diminished health-related quality of life (HRQOL) compared to healthy children.
  • Significant advancements in developing functional and HRQOL measures for pediatric IBD and JIA have occurred over the last two decades.
  • Canadian research teams have been instrumental in developing and validating key HRQOL instruments for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) in children, such as the Juvenile Arthritis Quality of Life Questionnaire (JAQQ) and the IMPACT questionnaire for pediatric IBD.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review disease-specific and generic instruments for assessing quality of life (QOL) in children with IBD or JIA.
  • To provide an overview of findings from outcomes studies that utilized these QOL assessment tools in pediatric populations with IBD and JIA.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of established and validated instruments for measuring HRQOL in pediatric IBD and JIA.
  • Synthesis of findings from outcomes studies applying these instruments to assess HRQOL in children and adolescents with these chronic conditions.

Main Results:

  • Several disease-specific and generic QOL assessment tools are available for pediatric IBD and JIA.
  • Studies applying these tools reveal insights into the HRQOL of children and adolescents with these immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Conclusions:

  • Validated instruments are crucial for accurately assessing and understanding the impact of IBD and JIA on children's quality of life.
  • Continued research and application of these QOL measures are essential for improving patient care and outcomes in pediatric rheumatology and gastroenterology.

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