A recent study published in the “The Journal of Rheumatology”, reported that inclusion of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints should be considered for a more accurate assessment of disease activity and treatment efficacy in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Furthermore, the study suggested that the extended score construct validity, showed better reliability, and sensitivity to change than the original.
The study included wrist magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 70 patients with JIA which were scored according to the wrist component of the rheumatoid arthritis MRI synovitis score (including distal radioulnar, radiocarpal, and combined midcarpal and carpometacarpal joints) and an extended score including the MCP joints. The interreader agreement was good for the extended score (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.86; 95% CI 0.80–0.91) and moderate for the original score (ICC…
