Objectives: To explore the use of psychotropic medications in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) compared to population controls.
Methods: Using register data from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland and the National Population Registry, we collected all incident JIA patients with index dates from 2000 to 2014 (n=4,180) and three population comparators for each case (n=12,512). For these individuals, we obtained information on their psychotropic medication from the registry on prescriptions, which includes all purchases of prescription medicines in pharmacies. The study populationwas followed from their index dates until 31 December 2015. The data were analysed using generalised linear models.
Results: The mean age (SD) of the JIA patients at disease onset was 8.3 (4.8) years, and 14.8 (6.4) years at the end of the follow-up period. During the follow-up years, 566 (13%) of the JIA patients had purchased some psychotropic drug from a pharmacy, whereas the number in the control group was 1,294 (10%; p<0.001). Antidepressants were the most purchased drugs in both groups. Further analysis by gender showed that females with JIA used antidepressants more often than males with JIA.
Conclusions: The use of psychotropic medication, particularly antidepressants, was more common in patients with JIA compared to comparators in the general population. This reflects the presence of clinically important mental health problems in JIA patients and the need for multiprofessional collaboration in patient care.