Evaluation and management of pain in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

The systematic evaluation and management of chronic and recurrent pain in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is only in the beginning stages of empirical development. While recent advances have been made in the assessment of pain secondary to JRA, very little clinical research has been targeted toward pain management. Development of reliable and valid pediatric pain measures is the first step in advocating controlled clinical trials with pain as an essential outcome variable.