The ACR has released clinical guidance documents for pediatric patients with rheumatic disease in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including one for multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Jay Mehta, MD, MS, an attending physician in the Division of Rheumatology and director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP),…
The recommendations for MIS-C focus on general guidance, diagnostic evaluation and therapy options, as well as comparing and contrasting the features of MIS-C and Kawasaki disease.
The recommendations for pediatric rheumatology patients address various treatment options and provide general guidance, as well as direction for when to start, stop or reduce medications.
Caring for pediatric patients during a pandemicin the age of COVID-19 requires adaptations, says Jay Mehta, MD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The one exposure that seems to put [pediatric] patients at risk is if they are on higher doses of steroids, with some data suggesting worse outcomes. We just put out guidelines telling providers to reduce steroids in their patients to the lowest dose that can adequately control their disease.”
Pediatric rheumatologists are in high demand. In fact, a shortage of pediatric rheumatologists requires more than half of all U.S. children with rheumatic diseases seek care with adult rheumatologists, and this shortage is projected to increase. For the past decade, the ACR’s Special Committee on Pediatric Rheumatology has worked to change this by bringing together…