Antibiotics have long been hailed as life-saving medications, helping the body fight everything from mild colds to life-threatening infections like pneumonia. However, researchers now caution that repeated use of antibiotics, especially during early childhood, may come at a cost.
In a new study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers tried to investigate how antibiotic use might be connected to the development of chronic health conditions in children. To do this, they analyzed health records from more than one million babies in the United Kingdom, tracking diagnoses of various long-term pediatric conditions up to the age of 12.
The researchers found that frequent antibiotic exposure in children could disrupt the delicate balance of gut microbes, setting the stage for a range of allergic conditions later in life, including asthma, food allergies, and hay fever. The study also noted a connection between antibiotic use and the risk for intellectual disabilities, but researchers cautioned that further studies are needed to confirm these associations.
“Antibiotics play a critical role in combatting bacterial infections, but physicians should be judicious when prescribing antibiotics to children under 2, as frequent use may affect long-term health outcomes,” said Daniel Horton, the lead author of the study in a news release.
However, the study also found that not all pediatric health conditions were linked to antibiotic use. For example, there was no significant association between antibiotics and the risk of developing autoimmune diseases like celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, or juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Similarly, the researchers found no strong links to neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The link between antibiotics use and health risk was also found to be course depended, meaning, more courses of antibiotics children took, the stronger the risk. Even when comparing siblings where one took antibiotics early and the other did not the results were similar, which makes the findings more reliable.
“Antibiotics are important and sometimes life-saving medicines, but not all infections in young kids need to be treated with antibiotics. Parents should continue to consult with their children’s doctors on the best course of care,” said Horton, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers School of Public Health.
