Abstract
Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are prone to the problems that can delay their psychosocial development; however, the existing literature has not reached a consensus on the psychological problems related to JIA. A total of 51 children and adolescents with JIA and 75 healthy controls aged 6 to 18 years were examined using the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL). Our results represented that 70 percent of JIA group reached “borderline clinical” range or “clinical” range in internalizing problems, while this percentage in the control group was 18 percent. In addition, our results indicated that JIA group has gotten significantly higher scores (more than twofold) in externalizing behaviors compared to control group. Furthermore, children with JIA showed higher rate of anxiety/depression, withdrawal/depression, somatic complaints, rule breaking behaviors, and aggressive behaviors as well as thought and social problems compared to control group (p < 0.001). As a conclusion, children and adolescents with JIA compared to healthy controls may show higher rate of both internalizing and externalizing problems. Furthermore, our novel findings on externalizing, social, and thought problems in JIA warrant further investigation on affected children who may be at greater risk of future psychopathologies.
Highlights
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) which consists of a heterogeneous group of chronic disorders is an autoimmune, noninfectious inflammation of joints’ synovial membrane and connective tissues that lasts more than 6 weeks [1, 2]
According to Mann–Whitney U analysis, subscales of anxiety/depression, withdrawal/depression, somatic complaints, rule breaking behaviors, and aggressive behaviors were scored in JIA significantly higher than control group (p < 0.001)
The amount of thought and social problems was greater in JIA group compared to control group (p < 0.001) while attention problems did not significantly differ between two groups (p > 0.05)
Summary
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) which consists of a heterogeneous group of chronic disorders (e.g., oligoarthritis, polyarthritis, and systemic arthritis) is an autoimmune, noninfectious inflammation of joints’ synovial membrane and connective tissues that lasts more than 6 weeks [1, 2]. In addition to pain and physical limitations, children with JIA may experience high levels of stress during the course of their disease [4]. They may find performing daily classroom activities challenging during periods of symptom exacerbation. They may feel altered body image, anxiety around social acceptance, and fears about prognosis, treatment process, and their future. Children with active JIA may experience irritability, regression to more infantile patterns of behavior, loss of appetite, weight loss, and behavioral
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