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Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate a brief disability screen for children with JIA, the Kids Disability Screen (KDS). Methods A total of 216 children enrolled in the Canadian Alliance of Pediatric Rheumatology Investigators (CAPRI) Registry in 2017–2018 formed a development cohort, and 220 children enrolled in 2019–2020 formed a validation cohort. At every clinic visit, parents answered two questions derived from the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ): 'Is it hard for your child to run and play BECAUSE OF ARTHRITIS?' ('Hard' 0–10), and 'Does your child usually need help from you or another person BECAUSE OF ARTHRITIS?' ('Help', 0–10). We used 36-fold cross-validation and tested nine different mathematical methods to combine the answers and optimize psychometric properties. The results were confirmed in the validation cohort. Results Expressed as the mean of the two answers, KDS best balanced ease of use and psychometric properties, while a LASSO regression model combining the two answers with other patient characteristics [estimated CHAQ [eCHAQ]) had the highest responsiveness. In the validation cohort, 22.7%, 25.9% and 28.6% of patients had a score of 0 at enrolment for the KDS, eCHAQ and CHAQ, respectively. Responsiveness was 0.67, 0.74 and 0.62, respectively. Sensitivity to detect a CHAQ > 0 was 0.90 and specificity 0.56, KDS detecting some disability in 44% of children with a CHAQ = 0. Conclusion This simple KDS has psychometric properties comparable with those of a full CHAQ and may be used at every clinic visit to identify those children who need a full disability assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare delivery and clinical research worldwide, with data from areas most affected demonstrating an impact on rheumatology care. This study aimed to characterize the impact of the pandemic on the initial presentation of JIA and JIA-related research in Canada. Methods Data collected from the Canadian Alliance of Pediatric Rheumatology Investigators JIA Registry from the year pre-pandemic (11 March 2019 to 10 March 2020) was compared with data collected during the first year of the pandemic (11 March 2020 to 10 March 2021). Outcomes included time from symptom onset to first assessment, disease severity at presentation and registry recruitment. Proportions and medians were used to describe categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Results The median time from symptom onset to first assessment was 138 (IQR 64–365) days pre-pandemic vs 146 (IQR 83–359) days during the pandemic. The JIA category frequencies remained overall stable (44% oligoarticular JIA pre-pandemic, 46.8% pandemic), except for systemic JIA (12 cases pre-pandemic, 1 pandemic). Clinical features, disease activity (cJADAS10), disability (CHAQ) and quality of life (JAQQ) scores were similar between the two cohorts. Pre-pandemic, 225 patients were enrolled, compared with 111 in the pandemic year, with the greatest decrease from March to June 2020. Conclusions We did not observe the anticipated delay in time to presentation or increased severity at presentation, suggesting that, within Canada, care adapted well to provide support to new patient consults without negative impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an initial 50% decrease in registry enrolment but has since improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]