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