The use of biologic and targeted therapies for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) surpassed more typical therapies in recent years, according to Rutgers Health researchers.

Their study examined more than 20 years of data from nearly 14,000 children with JIA throughout the nation.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) affects approximately 16 to 150 children per 100,000 in North America, according to the National Institutes of Health and prior research. This condition leads to chronic inflammation, resulting in persistent joint pain, swelling, and stiffness. The primary goals of JIA treatment are to alleviate symptoms, restore normal physical movement and growth, prevent long-term damage and vision loss, and enhance the overall quality of life. Researchers note that many studies on the use of antirheumatic drugs have focused more on adults with arthritis than on children with JIA.

“Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) can significantly impact the lives of affected children and their families,” stated Daniel Horton, a faculty member at the Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science (PETS) and a senior author of the study. “Fortunately, the treatment options have greatly improved in recent years, offering people with JIA more potentially effective therapies.”

Researchers used data from privately insured people spanning the past two decades to describe trends throughout the significant expansion in the available treatments for JIA. Newer disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, while often more expensive, are frequently more effective and better tolerated by patients than older conventional agents.

“Our study provides insight into the evolving real-world treatment practices for children with JIA,” said Priyanka Yalamanchili, lead author of the study, PETS trainee and a recent graduate of Rutgers School of Public Health’s master’s degree program in epidemiology with a pharmacoepidemiology concentration.

Initiations of conventional therapies declined by more than 45%, increasingly eclipsed by the use of newer biologic or targeted therapies. The use of adalimumab, one of the most popular biologics on the market today, has risen steadily since its initial approval for rheumatoid arthritis in 2002, representing nearly 80% of first-line biologic or targeted therapies started for JIA by 2022.

“This research sets the stage for future studies that will compare the effectiveness and safety of different therapies used to treat JIA,” said Horton, an associate professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers School of Public Health and the faculty director of the Rutgers Institute for Health Survey/Data Core, which provided access to the data studied.