Functional disability and health-related quality of life in juvenile idiopathic arthritis children from Beni-Suef

Background Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a common childhood disease which causes significant impairment in quality of life. The aim of the study is to assess the health-related quality of life and its relation to functional disability in JIA patients. Child health assessment questionnaire (CHAQ) and pediatrics quality of life 4 generic core questionnaire (PedsQL) were used to evaluate functional disability and health-related quality of life. Results CHAQ (VAS) of JIA patients ranged from 0 to 9 with a mean of 3.64 +/- 2.9 (SD), and of controls ranged from 0 to 4 with a mean of 1.32 +/- 1.3 (SD) with a statistically significant difference and a p value of 0.001. CHAQ-disability index (DI) of the cases ranged from 0 to 3 with a mean of 1.06 +/- 0.9 (SD) and of controls was consistent = 0. Pediatric quality of life (PedsQL) among cases ranged from 26.08 to 91.3 with a mean of 67.95 +/- 19.2 (SD) and among controls ranged from 78.27 to 100 with a mean of 90.73 +/- 7.7 (SD) showing statistically significant difference with a p value < 0.001. Childhood health assessment questionnaire (CHAQ) scores were significantly higher among studied females with JIA as compared with males. The mean CHAQ-DI scores were 4.56 +/- 2.7 vs. 1.29 +/- 2.6 in females and males respectively with a significant p value of 0.002. The mean CHAQ-(VAS) scores were 1.38 +/- 0.8 vs. 0.23 +/- 0.3 in females and males respectively with a significant p value of 0.016. Pediatric quality of life (PedsQL) scores were significantly higher among studied males with JIA as compared with studied females. The childhood health assessment questionnaire (CHAQ) was negatively correlated with all (physical, emotional, social, and school) items of the pediatric quality of life (PedsQL) (p < 0.001). Conclusion We found a significant impairment in the functional ability and health-related quality of life in patients with JIA compared to healthy children, with more impairment in females than males. CHAQ was negatively correlated with all items of PedsQL.