Background & Objectives: Juvenile Immune Arthritis (JIA), which is a disorder with unkuown etiology, occurs in children under 16 and is one of the most common collagen vascular diseases in pediatrics and among the important causes of permanent deformity of joints and blindness in children. With regard to its importance, we studied the incidence, different types as well as clinical and laboratory features of this disorder.

  Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed on 24 patients (age range: 6 months-12 years) admitted to pediatric wards of Ghaem and Imam Reza hospitals in Mashhad during 1998-2001. The data were collected from the patients’ records using a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software.

  Results: Polyarticular type was the most common form of the disease. Peak age of involvment was 11 years old. Boys were more frequently affected than girls. Knees, ankles and wrists were the most commonly involved joints. Most of the patients suffered from loss of appetite and irritability. Fever was detected in 100% of the patients with systemic type and 2/3 of the cases with polyarticular form. The most important laboratory findings were elevated ESR, positive CRP and anemia. There was an excellent response to aspirin or glucocorticoids.

  Conclusion: In comparison to similar studies the onset of disease in our patients was a little later. Fever was seen in all patients with sytemic disorder and skin rash was observed in most of the cases. So, it would be quite wise to suspect JIA in such cases. Aspirin or prednisolone are suitable drugs to treat most of these patients.