Relationship between aerobic capacity and disease activity in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: a review

Abstract Objective To evaluate whether there is a relationship between aerobic capacity and disease activity in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to identify parameters which could provide more information about the aforementioned relationship in future studies. Methods A systematic literature search was performed. Studies on aerobic fitness in children with JIA were identified and examined for measures of aerobic fitness VO2peak and “hard” measures of disease activity, including joint count (JC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) or other markers of inflammation. Correlations between VO2peak and disease activity were the main outcome measures for this review study. Results Seventeen studies were identified that reported aerobic capacity in children with JIA. Five studies described a possible correlation between aerobic capacity and joint count; three studies report no correlation, one study reports a negative correlation between JC and physical fitness score and one study reports a correlation between VO2max and disease activity in JCA girls (r = -0.60). Conclusion Various studies investigated aerobic capacity in patients with JIA, including the effect of exercise training, on a variety of outcome measures; however no studies included “hard” measures of disease activity such as CRP or ESR. There is no equivocal evidence whether aerobic capacity is related to JC