Our study aimed to evaluate the clinical and laboratory features of
juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) children with temporomandibular joint (TMJ)
arthritis. In the retrospective cohort study, we analyzed data of 753 patients with JIA aged 2-17 years, depending on TMJ
arthritis or not. TMJ
arthritis can to be diagnosed in the presence of at least two of the following clinical signs of
inflammation:
pain in TMJ, jaw opening limitation, jaw opening deviation, and
micrognathia. We compared clinical, laboratory, and treatment features in JIA patients depending on the involvement of TMJ. TMJ
arthritis was detected in 43 (5.7%) of our patients and associated with a longer course of the disease, polyarticular JIA category, treatment with systemic
corticosteroids, and longer achievement of the remission and involvement of cervical spine, hip, and shoulder. Active joints >8 (OR = 14.9, p = 0.0000001), delayed remission >7 years (OR = 3.1; p = 0.0004), delayed hip involvement (OR = 4.6; p = 0.041),
hip osteoarthritis (OR = 4.0; p = 0.014), cervical spine
arthritis (OR = 10.3, p = 0.000001), and
corticosteroid treatment (OR = 2.3, p = 0.0007) were associated with TMJ involvement. Patients with TMJ
arthritis require more biologics (OR = 3.2, p = 0.0006, HR = 2.4, p = 0.005) and have decreased probability of remission achievement (p = 0.014). Consequently, TMJ
arthritis was associated with a severe disease course. Early
biologic treatment and
corticosteroid avoidance might decrease TMJ involvement.