JIA Patients More At-Risk for Psychiatric and Sleep Conditions

The following are excerpts from an article on Rheumatology Advisor from June 2, 2023:

Incidence and burden of psychiatric disorders are increased among patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), which may be related to environmental stressors and genetic susceptibility, according to study findings published in ACR Open Rheumatology.

The most common conditions were sleep disorders, mood disorders (such as depression), anxiety disorders, and suicidal ideation. I don’t see sleep disorders as psychiatric in nature, but they’re often classified as such. It’s really silly when we think about it. No amount of therapy will help anyone stop their brain from interpreting chronic pain as a reason to wake up from REM. (That is called alpha-wave intrusion, by the way, and is incredibly common for chronic pain sufferers.)

Researchers concluded, “[P]atients with JIA are at increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders, resulting in an increased burden of psychiatric comorbidities, both in childhood and when reaching adulthood.”

You can read the Rheumatology Advisor article in full here as well as check out the full journal article from Bénédicte Delcoigne, AnnaCarin Horne, Johan Reutfors, and Johan Askling.