Risk factors for juvenile dermatomyositis: exposure to tobacco and air pollutants during pregnancy.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of exposure to inhaled environmental factors during pregnancy on the diagnosis of juvenile dermatomyositis (DM).

Methods: We performed a case–control study comprising 20 juvenile DM patients and 56 healthy controls matched by age and sex who were residents in the metropolitan region of a large city. A questionnaire assessed demographic data and environmental inhalation exposure during pregnancy (occupational exposure to demolition, chalk, construction and/or quarry dust, paints, varnish, gasoline vapor, and/or battery fluids; stationary sources of inhaled pollution near the mother's home; and maternal tobacco exposure).

Exercise training in juvenile dermatomyositis.

Objective: To investigate the effects of a supervised exercise training program on health parameters, physical capacity, and health-related quality of life in patients with mild and chronic juvenile dermatomyositis (DM).

Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study following 10 children with mild and chronic juvenile DM (disease duration >1 year). The exercise program consisted of twice-a-week aerobic and resistance training.

Responsiveness to exercise training in juvenile dermatomyositis: a twin case study.

Background: Patients with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) often present strong exercise intolerance and muscle weakness. However, the role of exercise training in this disease has not been investigated.

Purpose: this longitudinal case study reports on the effects of exercise training on a 7-year-old patient with JDM and on her unaffected monozygotic twin sister, who served as a control.

Evidence for prescribing exercise as treatment in pediatric rheumatic diseases.

There has been an increasing recognition of adverse short-, mid-, or long-term effects associated with the treatment as well as the disease itself that impair the health-related quality of life and functional capacity of children and adolescents with rheumatic diseases. Interestingly, cumulative evidence has suggested that exercise training may benefit patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile dermatomyositis and juvenile fibromyalgia, attenuating several clinical symptoms related to physical disability. Remarkably, recent evidence also suggests that exercise may have direct effects on the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases by attenuating chronic low-grade systemic inflammation.

[Association between pulmonary hemosiderosis and juvenile dermatomyositis].

Introduction: Pulmonary hemosiderosis (PH) is characterized by recurrent diffuse intra-alveolar hemorrhage associated to the presence of hemosiderin deposits inside macrophages. In the present Pediatric Rheumatology Service, during a 24 years period, 143 patients had JDM diagnosis and only one of them had associated PH (0.7%).