Types of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)

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This page lists the different types of arthritis that can arise in young people. Knowing the type of arthritis you have can help you understand your condition and how it will do over time.

Key points

  • To treat JIA, your doctor needs to diagnose the type of JIA you have.
  • Sometimes the type of JIA you have can change over time.
  • Not all types of JIA last into adulthood.
  • Types of JIA include oligoarticular, polyarticular, systemic, enthesitis-related, and psoriatic arthritis.

In order to treat your JIA, your doctor needs to diagnose what type you have. Your doctor will decide this based on:

  • your symptoms and how long you have had them
  • how many joints are affected
  • your family history
  • other tests such as blood tests and imaging scans of your joints.

It may take your doctor some time to be absolutely sure what type of JIA you have. You will learn more about how JIA is diagnosed in “Diagnosis of JIA.”

Sometimes the type of JIA you have may change over time. Also, while all types of JIA can last into adulthood, some are more likely to do so than others.

There are seven different types of JIA:

Do you know what type of JIA you have? Knowing the type of JIA you have will help you to:

  • learn more about that specific type of JIA
  • understand how that type of JIA will develop over time
  • learn about which medicines may be more helpful for that type of JIA
  • develop goals to help manage that particular type of JIA.
Last updated: January 31st 2017