ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicBig data research, precision medicine and real‑world evidence in autoimmune and rheumatic diseasesView all articles
The epidemiology and biologics treatment patterns of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in Taiwan-An 8-year follow-up
Provisionally accepted
- 1Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- 2Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
- 3School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- 4Novartis (Taiwan) Co. Ltd.,, Taipei, Taiwan
- 5Graduate Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- 6Department of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic arthritis in children, causing significant joint inflammation and complications. This study evaluates the incidence, prevalence, and treatment patterns of JIA in Taiwan, focusing on biologic therapy. Methods: A retrospective observational study utilized data from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) for the period 2011-2020. Patients diagnosed with JIA were identified, and the annual incidence and prevalence rates were calculated. Treatment patterns, particularly regarding biologics, were assessed. Subgroup analysis compared patients diagnosed with spondyloarthritis (SpA) versus non-SpA within the JIA cohort. Results: Two thousand and thirty-three JIA patients were included. The annual prevalence ranged from 18.0 to 24.2 per 100,000 populations under 16 years old, with an incidence of 5.22 to 6.57 per 100,000. A male predominance was noted (male-to-female ratio: 1.08-1.52:1). The JIA-SpA subgroup comprised 49.2% of the JIA cohort. Compared to Non-SpA patients, the JIA-SpA subgroup showed male predominance (70.7% vs. 44.4%, p<0.0001), later age of onset, and lower biologic use (15.2% vs. 23.1%, p<0.001). Tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitors were the most used biologics, with a continuation rate of 49.1%. Switching occurred in 13.2% of patients, mostly without interruption within a treatment gap of 60 days. Discontinuation without subsequent biologic therapy was observed in 9.5% of patients, while 28.2% restarted therapy after a treatment interruption of more than 60 days. Conclusion: This study highlights the epidemiological characteristics and treatment patterns for JIA in Taiwan, focusing on biologic therapies. Most patients maintained consistent biologics, with a small proportion able to discontinue them, emphasizing the need for region-specific management strategies.
Keywords: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), Epidemiology, Treatment, biologics, Spondyloarhritis
Received: 24 Sep 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Huang, Yiao, Lin, Lin and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Fang-Ju Lin
Yao-Hsu Yang
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.