Biomarkers in Pediatric Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases

Pediatric inflammatory rheumatic diseases are relatively uncommon, but they represent the largest group of chronic diseases in childhood/adolescence and the leading cause of disability among children in developed countries. Poor control of the inflammatory activity of any of the aforementioned diseases can lead to growth failure (issues with growth and maturation), alterations in quality of life and school schedule for the patients, limitations secondary to joint impairments (especially in the case of JIA), and in the long term, the development of acquired amyloidosis (AA), which is a complication of any uncontrolled inflammatory process and significantly increases the morbidity and mortality of affected patients.The prognosis of pediatric inflammatory rheumatic diseases depends on the proper control of inflammation as well as the management of the immunosuppressive drugs used for this purpose. Even today, clinicians face many uncertainties in assessing the inflammatory status of our patients. Therefore, a prospective study is proposed to serially measure new biomarkers-Calprotectin and Serum Amyloid Protein-alongside 'conventional' biomarkers-CRP and ESR-to help evaluate their utility in routine clinical practice

Inclusion criteria

Patients in follow-up in our Pediatric Rheumatology Unit, with the diagnoses of: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Connective Diseases or Autoinflammatory Diseases

Exclusion criteria

No