The history of pediatric rheumatology in the United States

Abstract

Children were afflicted uncommonly by the rheumatic diseases so that one physician's experience was obviously limited. In the latter half of the nineteenth century a few physicians began to study several of the diseases systematically in hospitals. Slow progress continued in the twentieth century but was accelerated by the grants in the 1950s which made possible the establishment of well-staffed centers for the treatment of these patients and their long-term clinical and laboratory study. Teaching of medical students and resident staffs was improved. A serious medical problem was getting the attention it deserved.