Background/Purpose:  Children with JIA are increasingly being encouraged to be physically active and are participating in organized and competitive sports as youth athletes. These youth are at risk of experiencing pain and dysfunction related to their underlying rheumatic disease, as well as the sports-related injuries observed in the general population. Our objective was to describe the demographic characteristics as well as the physical activity level and health-related quality of life of a pilot cohort of youth athletes who have a diagnosis of JIA.

Methods:  The JIA Sport and Exercise Medicine Clinic at Alberta Children’s Hospital is a multidisciplinary clinic run by a pediatric rheumatologist, physiatrist, and physiotherapist. All practitioners have a special interest and experience in pediatric sport and exercise medicine. The clinic includes children with a diagnosis of JIA followed in the hospital’s Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic, who self-identify as athletes and are interested in attending a Sport and Exercise Medicine clinic. Prior to the clinic visit, each child is asked to complete a series of questionnaires which includes validated measures of level of physical activity (Hospital for Special Surgery Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale (HSS Pedi-FABS) (scores 2-30) and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A) (scores 1-5)) and health-related quality of life (Pediatric Quality of Life Generic Core Scale (Version 4.0, Adolescent) (PedsQL GCS-A) and Pediatric Quality of Life (Version 3.0) Rheumatology Module (PedsQL-Rheum)).

Results:  A total of 11 youth with JIA participated in the JIA Sport and Exercise Medicine Clinic between October 2014 – April 2015. Children had a median age of 14 years (range 10-17) and 64% were male. The median time since diagnosis was 4 years (range 1-14). The sub-types of JIA included oligoarticular, 7, enthesitis-related arthritis, 3, and polyarticular RF negative, 1. All children took at least one arthritis medication, including NSAIDs (8), non-biologic DMARDs (5), and biologic DMARD (1). Children were involved in a variety of primary sports including ice-hockey, soccer, baseball, football, running, gymnastics, ringette, and dance. The children indicated that they were active a median of 13 hours per week (range 3-22). The measures of physical activity revealed moderate to high mean scores (SD) on the PAQ-A, 2.84 (0.84), and HSS Pedi-FABS, 22.45 (6.27). Health-related quality of life was found to be low with mean scores (SD) on the PedsQL GCS-A of 81.03 (11.08), (Physical Health, 73.58 (18.77), and Psychosocial Health, 85.00 (9.37)). The mean scores (SD) on the PedsQL-Rheum were low to moderate for Pain and Hurt, 58.52 (24.25), Treatment, 76.62 (18.38), Worry 75.00 (23.86), and Communication, 71.97 (23.94). The score was high for Daily Activities, 95 (9.22).

Conclusion:  Youth athletes with JIA are involved in a variety of sports. They are physically active for an above average number of hours per week but experience a significant degree of pain and have decreased scores of physical and psychosocial functioning. Additional support may need to be targeted to youth athletes with JIA to help them achieve their sports goals.