Relationship of Fatigue, Pain Interference, and Physical Disability in Children Newly Diagnosed With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective Our objectives were to quantify the relationships among fatigue, pain interference, and physical disability in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and to test whether fatigue mediates the relationship between pain interference and physical disability in JIA. Methods Patients enrolled within three months of JIA diagnosis in the Canadian Alliance of Pediatric Rheumatology Investigators (CAPRI) Registry between February 2017 and May 2023 were included. Their parents completed the Patient‐Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System fatigue and pain interference short proxy questionnaires and the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index at registry enrollment. Associations were assessed using Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test if fatigue mediates the relationship between pain interference and physical disability. Results Among 855 patients (61.4% female, 44.1% with oligoarthritis), most reported fatigue and pain interference scores similar to those in the reference population, but 15.6% reported severe fatigue and 7.3% reported severe pain interference, with wide variation across JIA categories. Fatigue was strongly correlated with pain interference (r = 0.72, P < 0.001) and with physical disability (r = 0.60, P < 0.001). Pain interference (β = 0.027, P < 0.001) and fatigue (β = 0.013, P < 0.001) were both associated with physical disability after controlling for each other and potential confounders. SEM supported our hypothesis that fatigue partially mediates the relationship between pain interference and physical disability. Conclusion Our findings suggest both fatigue and pain interference are independently associated with physical disability in children newly diagnosed with JIA, and the effect of pain interference may be partly mediated by fatigue.