Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 2001 Oct;60(10):940–945. doi: 10.1136/ard.60.10.940

Incidence and prevalence of juvenile arthritis in an urban population of southern Germany: a prospective study

S von Koskull 1, H Truckenbrodt 1, R Holle 1, A Hormann 1
PMCID: PMC1753380  PMID: 11557650

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To ascertain the incidence and prevalence of juvenile arthritis in a German urban population.
METHODS—All 766 paediatricians, orthopaedists, and rheumatologists working in practices or outpatient clinics in 12 south German towns were asked to report all patients who consulted them for juvenile arthritis during the year 1995. Patients with continuing symptoms were followed up for 9-12 months to obtain a final diagnosis. Extended measures of quality control were taken to control for known biases.
RESULTS—Of 457 reported cases, 294 were diagnosed with para-/postinfectious arthritis (PPA), 78 with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA), and 18 with other forms of arthritis. Half of the PPA cases were classified as transient synovitis of the hip (SH). For JCA the reported annual incidence was 6.6 and the prevalence 14.8 per 100 000 subjects under 16 years of age. For PPA the reported incidence was 76 and the prevalence 4.4 per 100 000 subjects under 16. The incidence of rheumatic fever was clearly below 1 per 100 000 people under 16. A correction model was used to control for known biases and to adjust the estimates accordingly.
CONCLUSIONS—The results of this first prospective study on the incidence and prevalence of juvenile arthritis in Germany are consistent with a retrospective study performed in the Berlin area. Based on these results it was estimated that the annual frequency of juvenile arthritis in Germany is as follows: 750-900 incident JCA cases, 21 000 incident SH cases, and 21 000 incidence cases of other forms of PPA a year. The number of incidence cases of rheumatic fever is expected to be markedly lower than 150 a year. The total prevalence is expected to be 3600-4350 JCA cases, 2250-3000 SH cases, and the same number of other forms of PPA.



Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (172.5 KB).

Figure 1  .

Figure 1  

Open in a new tab

Juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) subgroups.

Figure 2  .

Figure 2  

Open in a new tab

Distribution of age and sex in juvenile chronic arthritis.

Figure 3  .

Figure 3  

Open in a new tab

Distribution of age and sex in incident synovitis of the hip.

Figure 4  .

Figure 4  

Open in a new tab

Distribution of age and sex in incident para-/postinfectious arthritis.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Briggs R. D., Baird K. S., Gibson P. H. Transient synovitis of the hip joint. J R Coll Surg Edinb. 1990 Feb;35(1):48–50. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Doubilet P., Begg C. B., Weinstein M. C., Braun P., McNeil B. J. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulation. A practical approach. Med Decis Making. 1985 Summer;5(2):157–177. doi: 10.1177/0272989X8500500205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Graf J., Bernd L., Niethard F. U., Kaps H. P. Die Diagnostik bei der Coxitis fugax, der häufigsten Hüfterkrankung beim Kind. Klin Padiatr. 1991 Nov-Dec;203(6):448–451. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-1025471. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gäre B. A., Fasth A. Epidemiology of juvenile chronic arthritis in southwestern Sweden: a 5-year prospective population study. Pediatrics. 1992 Dec;90(6):950–958. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kiessling U., Döring E., Listing J., Meincke J., Schöntube M., Strangfeld A., Zink A. Incidence and prevalence of juvenile chronic arthritis in East Berlin 1980-88. J Rheumatol. 1998 Sep;25(9):1837–1843. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kunnamo I., Kallio P., Pelkonen P. Incidence of arthritis in urban Finnish children. A prospective study. Arthritis Rheum. 1986 Oct;29(10):1232–1238. doi: 10.1002/art.1780291008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kvien T. K., Glennås A., Melby K., Granfors K., Andrup O., Karstensen B., Thoen J. E. Reactive arthritis: incidence, triggering agents and clinical presentation. J Rheumatol. 1994 Jan;21(1):115–122. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Landin L. A., Danielsson L. G., Wattsgård C. Transient synovitis of the hip. Its incidence, epidemiology and relation to Perthes' disease. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1987 Mar;69(2):238–242. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.69B2.3818754. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Moe N., Rygg M. Epidemiology of juvenile chronic arthritis in northern Norway: a ten-year retrospective study. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1998 Jan-Feb;16(1):99–101. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ozdogan H., Kasapçopur O., Dede H., Arisoy N., Beceren T., Yurdakul S., Yazici H. Juvenile chronic arthritis in a Turkish population. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1991 Jul-Aug;9(4):431–435. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Prieur A. M., Le Gall E., Karman F., Edan C., Lasserre O., Goujard J. Epidemiologic survey of juvenile chronic arthritis in France. Comparison of data obtained from two different regions. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1987 Jul-Sep;5(3):217–223. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Southwood T. R., Petty R. E., Malleson P. N., Delgado E. A., Hunt D. W., Wood B., Schroeder M. L. Psoriatic arthritis in children. Arthritis Rheum. 1989 Aug;32(8):1007–1013. doi: 10.1002/anr.1780320810. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Truckenbrodt H. Zur Versorgungsstruktur rheumakranker Kinder und Jugendlicher in Westdeutschland. Z Rheumatol. 1990 Sep-Oct;49(5):260–267. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Vijlbrief A. S., Bruijnzeels M. A., van der Wouden J. C., van Suijlekom-Smit L. W. Incidence and management of transient synovitis of the hip: a study in Dutch general practice. Br J Gen Pract. 1992 Oct;42(363):426–428. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES