Causes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The causes of JIA are unknown and there is no prevention for it. 

Some genetic markers are more common in certain types of childhood arthritis or in children who develop particular complications from it. Although genetic makeup may be associated with an increased chance of developing arthritis, these conditions are not regarded as hereditary and rarely affect more than one family member.

Some features of these diseases suggest that there may be infectious triggers in a genetically predisposed child, but no specific infectious cause has been identified.

Revised and reviewed by Dr Chris Scott, Paediatric Rheumatologist, Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Cape Town February 2015.