19 Maternal and early childhood exposures in relation to juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Authors: Triki W , Dghaies A , Ferjani H , Ben Nessib D , Maatallah K , Kaffel Dh , Hamdi W 
Published: October 2022

Background

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common rheumatic disease in children. JIA likely has a complex aetiology, with multiple genetic and environmental factors contributing to its development. Existing data on associations between maternal and early childhood exposures and JIA is rare. Previous studies showed potential role for prematurity, number of siblings and infections.

Objectives

The aim of our study is to assess maternal and early childhood exposures in patients with JIA.

Methods

Mothers of children with JIA followed in rheumatology department were asked about maternity related data as well as the course of perinatal period of the child with JIA based on the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria. Exposure information from birth included: Maternal factors (age when they had the first child, age when they had the child with JIA, plurality (singleton, twin/multiple gestation), number of prior fetal losses, number of prior births; delivery method (vaginal, cesarean section)) and also information about birth weight (low (&lt;2500 grams), normal (2500– 4000 grams), excessive (4000+ grams)); size for- gestational-age and gestational age (preterm, normal term, post term) and postpartum complications.

Results

Thirty children (sixteen females and fourteen males) with JIA were included. The most common type of JIA was enthesitis-related in 13 cases, then oligoarthritis in 8 cases, polyarthritis without rheumatoid factor in 4 cases, polyarthritis with positive rheumatoid factor in 2 cases and psoriatic arthritis in 3 cases. The mean age of the mothers was 27.1 years [22–40] when they had their first child and 30.27 years [22–42] when they had their child with JIA. They were nulliparous in 40% of the cases. All of the children were from a singleton pregnancy. Thirty percent of the mothers had at least one prior fetal loss before they had their child with JIA. During their pregnancy with their child with JIA, five mothers had pre-eclampsia and two of them had gestational diabetes. None of them smoked during the pregnancy. Only 2 children had preterm birth. Birth weight was normal (2.500–4.000 grams) in 24 cases, low in 3 cases (&lt;2.500 grams) and above normal (&gt;4000 grams) in 3 cases. Size for gestational age was normal in all cases. Nineteen mothers had vaginal delivery and eleven had cesarean section. Neonatal complications were noted in 7 cases who needed to be admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (1 for hypoglycemia, 1 for jaundice, 2 for infection, 1 for respiratory distress and two because of preterm birth). Maternal complications were noted in four cases: 2 postpartum hemorrhage and 2 postpartum infections.

Conclusion

Our study assessed maternal and early childhood exposures in patients with JIA. Further studies are required to explore associations between these factors and the occurrence of the disease for a better knowledge of etiologies of JIA and for a possible prevention from this pathology.