JUVENILE PSORIATIC-ARTHRITIS, OR JUVENILE ARTHRITIS WITH PSORIASIS

Juvenile psoriatic arthritis (JPsA) has traditionally been considered to be one of the spondyloarthropathies. Clinical and laboratory evidence had shed doubt on the appropriateness of its inclusion in this classification, however. It is suggested that included under the rubric of JPsA there are two or more conditions: one in which arthritis and psoriasis occur coincidentally, and a second in which psoriasis occurs with a characteristic pattern of joint involvement: asymmetric oligoarthritis affecting large and small joints, with or without dactylitis, chronic uveitis, and antinuclear antibodies. Whether it is appropriate to consider JPsA as a variant of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, or as an entirely separate disorder is uncertain.