[Prospective observation study on the clinical course of chronic juvenile arthritis (JCA)].

A non-randomized follow-up study of 106 children with juvenile chronic arthritis was conducted for two years starting from the onset of the disease. All subgroups - with the exception of seropositive polyarthritis - showed a decrease in the number of joints affected, and activity of the disease in a number of patients. Instant remission and therapeutic effects cannot distinctly be differentiated. Radiological changes are proper criteria for early diagnosis in children with intense progressive joint-findings. X-ray examinations of the joints affected are therefore indicated at regular intervals especially, in the seropositive, occasionally in the seronegative polyarthritic subgroup.