A team of researchers from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea has suggested that there is no link between early exposure to antibiotics and an increased risk of children suffering from autoimmune diseases, the global incidence of which has been increasing in recent decades.
These results, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, contradict previous studies that suggested that exposure to antibiotics during pregnancy or breastfeeding could contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases in children, but whose confounding variables limited their validity.
"Antibiotic exposure during pregnancy or early childhood has not been associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases in children. However, follow-up studies are critical to confirm and expand these findings," noted the authors of the article, led by researcher Ju-Young Shin of Sungkyunkwan University.
Scientists have also stressed the importance of carefully considering underlying indications for antibiotic use and genetic susceptibility when interpreting such associations.
"While the potential benefits of antibiotic treatment in managing infections during pregnancy or early childhood likely outweigh the minimal risk of autoimmune complications, our findings also highlight the need for prudent and clinically appropriate use of antibiotics during these critical developmental periods in specific subgroups," they added.
The study involved a retrospective cohort study of over 4 million children born in South Korea between April 1, 2009, and December 31, 2020, from a maternal-child insurance claims database linked to the National Health Insurance Database of the National Health Insurance Service of South Korea (NHIS-NHID).
They then analyzed the health outcomes of each cohort over a period of more than seven years, tracking all diagnoses of type 1 diabetes, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease), systemic lupus erythematosus, and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
