According to a new study, upper respiratory tract infections that were treated with antibiotics have strong link to juvenile arthritis compared to the ones not treated. The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics. It has been conducted by researchers from University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University and Nemours A. I. duPont Hospital.

According to the study, dose of antibiotics to children could increase the risk of developing Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) by twice as compared to children who are not given the drugs.

As per several studies conducted in the past, childhood antibiotic therapy and microbiome impairment are associated with autoimmune diseases like JIA. As per reports, 25% of children suffering from the disease get the disease because of genetics. And according to some experts, environmental factors could also contribute in the development of the disease.

It was found in the study that there was a major significant connection between antibiotics and JIA in the participants, who were given multiple antibiotic treatments within a period of one year before they were diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. The scientists also looked into the use of nonbacterial antimicrobials like antifungals and antivirals; however, both were found to have no connection to JIA.

According to lead author Daniel Horton, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ, "This risk was greatest within a year of receiving antibiotics and increased with the number of antibiotic courses children were prescribed. Our research suggests another possible reason to avoid antibiotic overuse for infections that would otherwise get better on their own".