American College of Rheumatology provisional criteria for defining clinical inactive disease in select categories of juvenile idiopathic arthritis

To prospectively validate the preliminary criteria for clinical inactive disease (CID) in patients with select categories of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

We used the process for development of classification and response criteria recommended by the American College of Rheumatology Quality of Care Committee. Patient-visit profiles were extracted from the phase III randomized controlled trial of infliximab in polyarticular-course JIA (i.e., patients considered to resemble those with select categories of JIA) and sent to an international group of expert physician raters. Using the physician ratings as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity were calculated using the preliminary criteria. Modifications to the criteria were made, and these were sent to a larger group of pediatric rheumatologists to determine quantitative, face, and content validity.