Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis: outcome and treatment for the 1990s.

There has been much discontent with the hazards and the uncertain responses of patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) to time-honored modalities of management. The treatment of JRA is often thought of as a pyramid with the base formed by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, patient and family education, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and family support. Mechanisms of human disease have begun to open the gates to understanding the why and when of connective tissue diseases; they also offer the prospect of direct therapeutic intervention. In this article, the authors scrutinize the paradigms that guide our treatment strategies, review current practices, update data derived from those practices, and propose reassessment of therapy in the 1990s.