Repeated exposure to antibiotics in infancy: a predisposing factor for juvenile idiopathic arthritis or a sign of this group's greater susceptibility to infections?
Previous exposure to antibiotics has been associated with the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases. Our objective was to explore whether childhood exposure to antibiotics would be associated with the risk of developing juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
The material was collected from national registers containing all children born in 2000-2010 in Finland and diagnosed with JIA by the end of December 2012 (n = 1298) and appropriate controls (n = 5179) matched for age, sex, and place of birth. All purchases of antibiotics were collected from birth until the index date (i.e., the date of special reimbursement for JIA medications). A conditional logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between the exposure to antibiotics and the risk of JIA.
The risk of JIA increased with the number of antibiotic purchases from birth to the index date: for = 1 purchases versus none, OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.3-1.9 with an upward trend in OR (p