A study presented at the American College of Rheumatology Science Meeting in Boston linked antibiotic use in childhood to an increased risk of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, also called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, is a condition that occurs predominantly in children and adolescents under 16 years of age..

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is characterized by joint inflammation, pain, swelling and stiffness.

Rash, fever and eye inflammation can occur with JIA.

Approximately 300,000 children and adolescents in the United States have arthritis; most of the cases are in JIA.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is an autoimmune disease. This means that inflammation develops due to the reaction of the child's immune system to their own cells and tissues.. The causes of JIA are not fully understood..

“Past scientific studies have shown that heredity can explain less than 50% of JIA cases.. But none of the studies could convincingly prove the role of this or that environmental factor, ”says the author of the latest work, Dr. Daniel Gorton (Daniel Horton) from Nemours Alfred I Children's Hospital. duPont Hospital (Wilmington, Delaware).

However, previous research has found that the microbiome (the collection of microorganisms that live in the human body and regulate metabolism and immunity) may play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and rheumatoid arthritis.. Moreover, the use of antibiotics and disruption of the microflora in children may be associated with the development of IBD..

Armed with this information, Dr. Gorton and his team set out to test whether taking antibiotics affects the risk of JIA in children..

JIA risk rises sharply after multiple courses of antibiotics.

Using data from The Health Improvement Network, a UK medical records database, the team identified 153 patients diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis before the age of 16.. They also selected a control group that included children of appropriate age and gender who did not suffer from JIA..

The researchers found that children who took antibiotics (but not antifungals or antivirals)! ), had an increased risk of JIA. The risk was highest if the child took multiple courses of antibiotics.. These results remained significant after the inclusion of factors such as the age at which the child was treated with antibiotics, as well as gender, race, etc..

This study adds another element to the current understanding of the negative effects of antibiotics on children's health, says Dr. Gorton.. The researcher writes: "

Link between antibiotics and juvenile idiopathic arthritis may be confirmed in future studies. If it is confirmed, then the only way to protect against such a risk is the rational use of antibiotics in clinical practice..

Dr. Gorton notes that the biological link between antibiotics and JIA is much more complicated than it might seem.. To study it, scientists still need to do a lot of work.. One of the results of such work could be the emergence of a fundamentally new strategy for the prevention and treatment of arthritis in children..

In September 2014, the American journal Pediatrics published a shocking figure: each year, doctors write 11,400,000 unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics for children and adolescents.. I wonder how many such prescriptions are issued in the countries of the former USSR? And how many unnecessary antibiotics are dispensed in our pharmacies without a doctor's prescription?

medbe. en.