Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis experience significantly higher disease activity and pain levels than their non-Hispanic White peers, according to a new study analyzing data from 9,601 patients across 18 children’s hospitals in the United States and Canada.
Researchers examined health disparities using the Pediatric Rheumatology Care and Outcomes Improvement Network registry, tracking patients seen between April 2011 and March 2024. They measured physician assessments of disease activity, patient and parent assessments of well-being, active joint counts, disease activity scores, and arthritis-related pain intensity.
Initial analyses revealed that non-Hispanic Black patients carried the highest disease burden across all measures, with the highest mean active joint count, physician assessment scores, patient assessment scores, disease activity scores, and pain scores among all groups studied.
Even after adjusting for age, sex, insurance status, disease duration, arthritis subtype, and study site, these disparities persisted. Non-Hispanic Black patients had significantly higher arthritis-related pain, physician assessment scores, patient assessment scores, and overall disease activity scores compared with non-Hispanic White patients. Hispanic patients also showed significantly higher pain, patient assessment scores, and disease activity scores.
The study authors emphasized the significance of their findings, stating that the results highlight significant disparities in outcomes of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis related to race, sex, and age that warrant further investigation and targeted interventions.
These persistent gaps in disease outcomes among minority children with arthritis underscore the need for healthcare systems to address structural barriers contributing to unequal treatment experiences and health outcomes.
See: “Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis” (January 16, 2026)
