Lili (not her real name), an 11 year old girl, has felt pain in her hip joint this year, and it is also very difficult to walk. Yesterday, she came to the Children's Hospital affiliated to Chongqing Medical University for an examination. She unexpectedly suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. "Isn't rheumatism a disease of the elderly? How can an 11 year old child have it?" Her mother, Ms. Wang, couldn't believe it.

　　 11 year old girl suffers from rheumatism

Lili lives in Fengdu County. After a rain at the beginning of this year, her left hip joint ached faintly. After a short rest, she felt relieved of the pain, but she didn't care about it. But a few days later, hip pain even began to affect walking.

Lili told her parents that they thought she was in the development stage, which might be bone growth pain, which was normal. Lili was relieved, but her hip joint pain was getting worse and worse. Lili said that at that time, as long as the waist was slightly raised, the pain in the hip joint was unbearable, and when walking like an old man, he could only bend over and limp. Seeing the situation was serious, her parents immediately took Lili to the local hospital for examination. The doctor prescribed a medicine. Lili's pain weakened after taking it, but it recurred soon. Her joints were like pulling tendons, accompanied by soreness and pain. She could not even sit when she was in the most pain.

Yesterday, Ms. Wang took Lili to the Children's Hospital for treatment. The doctor's diagnosis surprised the whole family - Lili had suffered from juvenile idiopathic arthritis, also known as rheumatism.

　　 Children with rheumatism may be disabled

Professor Tang Xuemei, director of the Kidney Immunology Department of the Children's Hospital, explained that rheumatism is not the patent of the elderly. Children also suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, and the incidence is not low. "According to the authoritative survey, the probability of children suffering from rheumatism is 1/1000, and girls are higher than boys." Director Tang said that juvenile idiopathic arthritis can occur at any age below 16 years old, and there are famous children in Zhejiang who are only 1 year old and 3 months old. The Kidney Immunology Department of Children's Hospital will treat about 100 children every year.

Director Tang said that rheumatism is very harmful to children. Rheumatoid arthritis has a high disability rate, which will cause joint damage, and then destroy bone, resulting in joint deformity, limited activity, leading to disability. In serious cases, it will also affect the internal organs, even accompanied by macrophage activation syndrome, leading to death.

Director Tang said that there were four major symptoms of early childhood rheumatism - persistent fever, muscle weakness, skin rash and joint swelling and pain. "If a child has any of these symptoms, he should go to the hospital in time for examination."

　　 Don't treat rheumatism pain as growth pain

Director Tang said that most parents have a misunderstanding that when children have leg pain, knee pain and other symptoms due to rheumatism, parents mistakenly think it is the growth pain of long bones. The two kinds of pain can be distinguished from the following three aspects.

Pain location: growth pain mostly occurs at both ends of the long bone, mostly in the lower limbs, such as the inner thigh, calf and other locations; Joint pain occurs in joints, including wrists, knees and ankles.

Pain mode: growth pain is spontaneous pain, and joint pain is mostly swelling pain or tenderness.

Pain time: pain time of growth pain is generally afternoon, evening and late night, and joint pain caused by juvenile idiopathic arthritis is often in the morning.

Chongqing Evening News reporter Xiong Zhixiang, trainee reporter Wu Dawei