How early-life adversity affects the risk of pediatric-onset immune-mediated inflammatory disease

Background

The etiology of pediatric-onset immune-mediated inflammatory disease (pIMID) is poorly understood, particularly the interplay of early-life adversities. We explored how interrelated early-life adversities affect the pIMID risk in a life-course birth cohort.

Methods

We included all children born in Denmark between 1981 and 2015. Adversities encountered during the first 1000 days of life were obtained from the Danish registries and categorized into three dimensions: biological, material, and familial. The outcome was developing pIMID (autoimmune liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, vasculitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus) between ages 2 and 18. Cox proportional hazards and additive hazard model assessed the effect of the cumulative adversity load on developing pIMID. A machine learning model identified exposure patterns associated with increased absolute risk estimates.

Results

Of 2,123,827 children, 9070 developed pIMID. The cumulative burden of biological adversities was associated with higher risks of developing pIMID; aHR of two adversities was 1.23 (95 %CI: 1.07 to 1.41), aHR of ≥4 adversities was 1.8 (95 %CI: 1.4 to 2.2). Conversely, >2 familial adversities were associated with a reduced risk (0.66 [95 %CI: 0.41 to 1.1]). No associations were found in the material dimension. The machine learning model identified a pattern of adversities associated with a five-fold higher pIMID risk in a population subgroup.

Conclusion

Early-life biological adversities are important risk factors for developing pIMID. The lower risk observed in the familial dimension was unexpected but may reflect delayed diagnosis in socially vulnerable families. This potential inequality in healthcare needs further exploration.