Disease Activity assessment
Assessment of Disease Activity
CMAS (Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale) – a quantitative assessment tool used to assess physical function of patients with Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM) – looks at muscle strength and endurance.
MMT8 (Manual Muscle Testing and a subset of Eight Muscles) – a set of 8 designated muscles tested unilaterally to assess muscle strength, also used in the assessment of patients with myositis.
PReS JDM Working Party have further resources to describe muscle assessment:
https://www.pres.eu/working-parties/JDM-working-party.html
CHAQ (Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire) – a validated tool which assesses the physical health of children with JIA. It can be completed by child / young person over 8 years of age or by parent / carer for those younger. It is also a core outcome measure in clinical trials involving children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA).
A pdf download of the CHAQ is available.
JADAS (Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score) is compiled out of the scores of the physicians global assessment of disease activity (VAS), the parents global assessment of disease activity, the active joint count* and the ESR normalised to a 1-10 scale.
*the active joint count can be any of the following: JADAS 10 = 10 joints, JADAS 27 = 27 joints or JADAS 71 = all joints
The cJADAS (clinical JADAS) has also been tested. This is calculation excludes the ESR as this, along with the CRP is not routinely measured in some centres.
Further information about outcome measures in JIA and the JADAS in particular, is available.
SLEDAI (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index) is a clinical index for assessment of disease activity for children / young people with lupus. It comprises of 24 weighted clinical and laboratory variables of nine organ systems and calculates disease activity based on the preceding 10 days.
