Australian Living Guideline for the Management of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Click here to access the living guideline.

What are the Australian Living Guidelines for the management of JIA?

An Australian Living Guideline for the Management of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) seeks to present the best available, current scientific evidence to assist decision making in the management of JIA. The guideline offers recommended courses of action subject to clinical judgement and patient preferences.  This guideline covers the management of JIA in children and young people. This guideline will aim to add new recommendations and expand the breadth of information as resources permit. In order to have immediate impact, a prioritisation study was performed in 2021 to identify questions with the highest clinical relevance to medical practitioners who treat JIA

Who are these Living Guidelines for?

This living guideline applies to all children and young people diagnosed with JIA. It is intended for use by medical practitioners who treat JIA. This is primarily paediatric rheumatologists; however, the guideline will also be relevant to GPs and other health care professionals involved in the care of patients with JIA, as well as pharmacists and consumers. This guideline is produced in collaboration with the Australian Paediatric Rheumatology Group (APRG), the interest group of paediatric rheumatologists, who are members of the ARA.

The recommendations in this living guideline apply to all healthcare settings in Australia including public and private healthcare settings.

About this Living Guideline

An Australian Living Guideline for the Management of Juvenile idiopathic Arthritis is being produced with assistance from an Arthritis Australia Health Professional Education and Training grant (GO ID:GO2794). This grant aims to improve care for people with arthritis. It will develop online education modules for health care professionals who provide care for people with osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis as well as develop the living guidelines for JIA. 

The living guideline and living recommendations component is produced in conjunction with the Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network, the ARA and Cochrane Musculoskeletal.

Recommendations as of 24 July 2023