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Health assessment in the rheumatic diseases of childhood
Insights
Pediatric rheumatology now uses health status measures for children with rheumatic diseases. Instruments like the Childhood Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (CHAIMS) assess physical, social, and mental functioning.
Area of Science:
- Rheumatology
- Pediatric Health Assessment
- Measurement Science
Background:
- Traditionally, rheumatic disease assessment focused on disease activity.
- Recent emphasis is on incorporating physical, social, and mental functioning.
- Growth in health status, functional status, disability, and quality of life measures.
Purpose of the Study:
- Review the development of childhood instruments for rheumatic diseases.
- Discuss measurement properties of these pediatric instruments.
- Highlight their potential roles based on recent literature.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of childhood rheumatic disease assessment tools.
- Analysis of measurement properties and recent applications.
- Focus on instruments developed for pediatric rheumatic diseases.
Main Results:
- Adult measures like AIMS, HAQ, MACTAR are widely used.
- Pediatric-specific instruments include CHAIMS, CHAQ, JAFAR, JASI, JAQQ, CAHP.
- These tools evaluate health status, function, and quality of life in children.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric instruments are crucial for comprehensive assessment in childhood rheumatic diseases.
- These measures are essential for clinical practice and trials.
- Further research supports their role in evaluating patient well-being.
Abstract:
Assessment of children and adults with rheumatic diseases, both in clinical practice and controlled clinical trials in rheumatology, has traditionally focused on the measurement of disease activity. More recently emphasis has been placed on the need to incorporate estimates of physical, social, and mental functioning into health assessment. Thus there has been a tremendous growth in the development of measurement instruments that evaluate health status, functional status, disability, and quality of life. This type of measurement has become essential, particularly for clinical trials in adults with rheumatic diseases, for which the AIMS (Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales), the HAQ (Health Assessment Questionnaire), and the MACTAR (McMaster-Toronto arthritis) patient preference questionnaire have been the most widely used. In the past few years, similar measures have been developed for application in children with rheumatic diseases. These include the CHAIMS (Childhood Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales), the CHAQ (Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire), the JAFAR (Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Report), the JASI (Juvenile Arthritis Self-report Index), the JAQQ (Juvenile Arthritis Quality of Life Questionnaire), and the CAHP (Childhood Arthritis Health Profile). In this review, the development and measurement properties of these childhood instruments are discussed, with particular emphasis on their potential roles as supported by recent literature.