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Seasonality of birth of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Yackov Berkun1, Hadas Lewy2, Shai Padeh3

  • 1Department of Paediatrics, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Centre, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel.

Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology
|January 10, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) show a distinct birth month pattern compared to the general population, with peaks in winter and troughs in summer. This seasonality may indicate in utero or perinatal environmental influences on JIA development.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Rheumatology
  • Immunology
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease affecting children.
  • Understanding environmental factors influencing JIA onset is crucial for etiology research.
  • Month of birth (MOB) seasonality may reflect early-life environmental exposures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the seasonality of month of birth (MOB) in children diagnosed with JIA.
  • To compare the MOB patterns of JIA patients with those of the general population in Israel.

Main Methods:

  • Cosinor analysis was employed to assess MOB rhythmicity in 558 JIA patients.
  • MOB data from JIA patients were compared to a large general population cohort (n=1,040,558).
  • Non-parametric tests were used for statistical comparisons between groups.

Main Results:

  • JIA patients exhibited a distinct 12-month MOB rhythm, peaking from November to March and lowest in summer.
  • This JIA MOB pattern was an inverse of the general population's MOB pattern.
  • Rhythmicity varied by sex (males: 8 & 6-month rhythms; females: no rhythm) and JIA subtype (only enthesitis-related arthritis showed rhythmicity).

Conclusions:

  • The unique MOB seasonality in JIA patients supports the hypothesis of in utero or perinatal origins.
  • Seasonal environmental factors may play a role in triggering the autoimmune processes leading to JIA.
  • Further research into specific seasonal environmental agents is warranted.
Abstract

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