title: Epidemiology of the rheumatic diseases of childhood.
abstract: Epidemiologic studies of pediatric rheumatologic disease are becoming increasingly focused on subfields of epidemiology. Genetic epidemiology is assuming an ever-greater role in the understanding of disease risks and pathogenesis. Such studies involve major histocompatibility complex, cytokine gene polymorphisms, T cell studies, and microarray-based expression technology. Clinical epidemiology, the study of occurrence and outcomes, increasingly relies on multicenter studies with data improving as study parameters become more standardized. With multicenter studies, there is an increasing trend to study ethnic differences in rheumatologic diseases of children.
authors: School of Paediatrics and Childhealth, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. pruem@paed.uwa.edu.au
authors: Prudence J
authors: PJ
authors: Manners
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution