Juvenile rheumatism patients break off therapy

Many adolescents with rheumatism break off the doctor's contact

09/16/2014

For adolescents with rheumatic disease, the transition is a significant weak point, according to the experts at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (GKJR). About one third of the adolescents with rheumatism break off the therapy with the transition to adulthood and take up contact with the doctor very late, reports the „Doctors newspaper“ citing a joint communication of the GKJR and the German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh).

Difficulty in the transition of adolescent rheumatic patients
Transition is the planned therapeutic transition from chronically ill children and adolescents to adult therapy. Here, continuous treatment should be ensured to avoid deterioration. However, adolescents with rheumatism often break contact with physicians when they move to adulthood, she says „Doctors newspaper“. According to the information provided by the specialist associations, however, joints or eyes may already be damaged on the next visit to the rheumatologist. Therefore, a continuous therapeutic support is required.

Switch to adult medicine too soon and too abruptly
Recent studies have shown that one in three perceived the change from the child-specific to the adult-specific therapy as too early and one in four as too abrupt, so the remarks of the „Doctors newspaper“ citing the communication of the GKJR and the DGRh. Although consultations to prepare the transition were offered nationwide by more than 20 children's rheumatology institutions, fewer than one in five people use them. The experts hope to achieve significant improvements in the future with the transfer of the Berlin Transition Program, which was specially developed for diabetes and epilepsy, to the field of rheumatology. (Fp)