AIIMS Doctors Bust Myth: Rheumatic Diseases Can Cripple Children Too if Not Caught Early

Ignored Joint Pain in Kids Could Lead to Lifelong Disability or Kidney Damage, Warn AIIMS Experts

Transcript

00:00Today we have Professor Pankaj Hari, Department of Pediatrics from AIMS.

00:06Sir, I want to ask about this program, how this rheumatic disease really affect young children?

00:12So, first of all, I would like to say that there has to be awareness about the pediatric rheumatic diseases.

00:18And it's a myth that they don't happen in children, they do happen in children.

00:21And they can affect children ranging from 1 year of age to 18 year of age.

00:24They can even affect very small children also.

00:26So, it's very important that you should be aware as to how to diagnose this condition.

00:29And the chief symptom of this condition is generally joint pain.

00:33But it can also be long-standing fever, some kind of a skin rash.

00:36So, these are the symptoms that would prompt a diagnosis of rheumatic disease.

00:40And since rheumatic disease can affect various organ systems,

00:43and therefore accordingly you will have to take the right consultation from a physician.

00:47And then from a pediatrician, they should be finally referred to a pediatric rheumatologist.

00:50Sir, joint pains are like common.

00:52What do you suggest for the parents to watch out in children to detect this?

00:56So, you don't have to worry about one day or two day of joint pain.

00:59But if it's a persistent joint pain or joint swelling, which is persistent,

01:03which means lasting for a few weeks, then you should definitely see a pediatrician.

01:08It's not always that you need to, very often people go to the orthopedician for this.

01:11That's not the right thing.

01:12For trauma or a fracture, you should go to an orthopedician.

01:14But for these diseases, generally you will have to visit a pediatrician,

01:18who will then be able to figure out a diagnosis.

01:20So, what are the new treatments or like detections aims as adopted or discovered reasons?

01:26So, there are various advances in pediatric rheumatology.

01:29Previously steroids used to be the only drug.

01:31Now there are various kinds of therapies which include monoclonal antibody therapies.

01:35And these are now, they have actually made a lot of impact on the outcome of these children.

01:40So, these children now get better and they are free of disability.

01:45My last question would be like, how early we can detect this?

01:49So, how early means when you have symptoms, it is up to the parents to figure out first

01:54that this symptom would require a visit to a doctor.

01:57And then it is up to the doctor.

01:58So, generally when there are delays happening at multiple levels.

02:01So, the parents sometimes say, maybe we can wait for some time.

02:04Then it is something that when you go to a doctor, he is not able to figure it out.

02:07So, finally, we have seen that there can be delay of almost a year or sometime one and a half years

02:12before a final diagnosis of a pediatric rheumatic disorder is made.