The emerging role of clinimetrics in pediatric rheumatology.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the clinimetrics of pediatric rheumatic diseases. Clinimetric assessments convert the findings of clinical evaluations into standardized quantitative data, enabling more accurate monitoring of disease course and child health status and ultimately improving the quality of care. The use of validated composite instruments is essential for the adoption of treat-to-target strategies and contributes to the implementation of precision medicine. Over the past three decades, a wide variety of clinical outcome measures have been developed and validated, which have expanded the range of disorders and the spectrum of disease domains that can be addressed in a standardized manner. Parent- and child-reported outcome measures are highly valued, as they provide insights into parental and child perceptions of disease burden and the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. Health data generated by parents and children are well suited for actuating remote patient monitoring, a form of telemedicine that involves the collection and transmission of health data from a patient to their health care team by using digital health technologies. A Collection of articles on clinimetrics in pediatric rheumatic diseases has been launched by Pediatric Rheumatology to provide an overview of the tools that are currently available to assess the disease and health status of children and adolescents with systemic inflammatory and autoinflammatory disorders. This initiative is also aimed to foster the regular use of outcome measures in standard clinical care.