Health Information
Corticosteroids for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
How Well It Works
Corticosteroids can provide rapid, dramatic improvement in some people with JIA.Reference 1
- Oral corticosteroids are often useful:
- For children with systemic JIA who have fever and inflammation of the protective sac around the heart (pericarditis).
- For controlling night pain or morning stiffness in JIA.
- For controlling a flare-up of symptoms in polyarticular JIA.
- While waiting for another drug such as methotrexate or etanercept to take effect. Methotrexate and etanercept are disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
- Injected corticosteroids usually help when they are injected into the painful joints of children who have limited arthritis, especially in children who have not responded to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or who can't tolerate NSAIDs.
- Intravenous corticosteroids can help manage joint disease. But they are usually used only in children who have life-threatening complications such as pericarditis.
- Corticosteroid eyedrops usually act quickly to control a flare-up of eye inflammation.
| By: | Reference Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: June 5, 2012 |
| Medical Review: | Reference Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics
Reference John Pope, MD - Pediatrics |
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