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The article evaluates the effects of long-term etanercept treatment on growth in children with selected categories of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The study involved a three-year, open-label non-randomized registry of 594 patients with polyarticular or systemic JIA treated with etanercept only, etanercept plus methotrexate, or methotrexate only. Height, weight and body mass index were assessed. The results showed that etanercept treatment, with or without methotrexate, may contribute to the normal growth restoration in children with JIA.

The article presents a study on the relationship between the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) pediatric criteria and the rheumatoid arthritis with polyarticular-course juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) activity measures. It is stated in the study that JIA is refractory to standard medical therapies. It notes that correlation coefficients between ACR pediatric response measures were calculated. It also mentions that the study found disease activity measures have discriminative abilities.

The article discusses a study which evaluated the safety and efficacy of eight years etanercept treatment in patients diagnosed with polyarticular-course juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). The study included JRA patients who were previous participants of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of etanercept. No cases of opportunistic infections, lupus, lymphomas or deaths were reported among the study population. The study concluded that the acceptable safety profile of etanercept is maintained for up to eight years.

To determine whether baseline self‐assessment measures of health status and physiologic indices of disease severity in alveolitis‐positive patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) correlate with the severity of their dyspnea, and to quantify functional impairment in patients with scleroderma lung disease and compare it with that in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).SSc patients (n = 138) with diffuse (n = 81) or limited (n = 57) cutaneous disease and active alveolitis (determined by bronchoalveolar lavage and/or high‐resolution computed tomography) who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute–sponsored, multicenter, parallel‐group, double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled trial of oral cyclophosphamide for treatment of SSc‐associated interstitial lung disease were evaluated. Pearson''s univariate correlations were determined between the Short Form 36 (SF‐36) physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scales, functional questionnaires, and physiologic parameters of breathing (forced vital capacity [FVC] and single‐breath diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide [DLCO]). Student''s t‐test was used to compare subgroups. Scores from 2 instruments for self‐assessment of breathlessness, Mahler''s baseline dyspnea index (BDI) and a visual analog scale (VAS) for breathing, were divided at the median. Values for the DLCO and FVC (% predicted) were divided based on the American Thoracic Society guidelines for mild (>70% of predicted), moderate (50–70% of predicted), and severe (<50% of predicted) physiologic impairment.Scores on the BDI and VAS for breathing were highly correlated (r = −0.61). The PCS and MCS were able to differentiate patients with more breathlessness (measured by BDI and VAS for breathing) and more abnormal physiologic measures (FVC and DLCO). In SSc patients with alveolitis, all 8 domains of the SF‐36 were significantly impaired as compared with the healthy population and were similar to those reported by patients with COPD.The SF‐36 was able to discriminate between scleroderma lung disease patients with more severe and less severe breathlessness, the primary symptom of active alveolitis. The SF‐36 complements the BDI and VAS scores for breathing in scleroderma lung disease and is variably correlated with results of pulmonary function tests, suggesting that the SF‐36 should be included as an outcome measure in intervention trials in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]