About this Research Topic

Background

Pediatric rheumatological diseases include various immune-mediated conditions such as inflammatory arthritis, vasculitis, autoinflammatory syndromes, and autoimmune diseases in children and adolescents. Recent therapeutical advances in immunosuppressive drugs and monoclonal antibody biologics have increased disease remission and corticosteroid-sparing rates. Although this represents a significant step in patient life quality, part of children suffering from these conditions will experience partial remission or be non-responders to these therapeutics.
We hypothesize that non-pharmacological complementary approaches should be useful to enhance the response rate to treatments, allowing steroid-sparing, and later long-term persistent remission off medication.

Pediatric Rheumatology departments are developing as the prevalence of immune-mediated diseases increases in young populations. To meet this increasing demand, health practitioners need to be trained in different disciplines, as a complement to pharmacological approaches. As a growing person in a specific environment, children suffering from rheumatologic diseases need to be considered as a whole. This Research Topic aims to identify the science that structures the concept of integrative pediatric rheumatology. How diet, physical activity, or mental hygiene can participate in the reduction of inflammation to help prevent disease onset, reduce symptom intensity, and maintain remission?

To assess this problem from different angles, the current Research Topic will include various types of scientific articles focusing on the influence of environmental exposition, physical activity, dietary habits, and mental hygiene on pediatric rheumatological disease courses. A variety of manuscripts are welcomed, such as:

1. Determine how the environment can impact rheumatological disease trajectory, using epidemiological studies.
2. Methodological challenges involving studying dietary habits, and stress conditions in mouse models.
3. Interventional studies in real-life conditions of patients with rheumatological inflammatory conditions.
4. Perspective reviews of influent researchers in pediatric rheumatology or from other disciplines that use

Keywords: Pediatric rheumatology, Integrative medicine, Immune-mediated diseases, Diet, Physical activity, Mental hygiene, Pollution

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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