People with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease, are nine times more likely to develop depression, a study found.
A research team at the University of Southern California in the United States investigated and analyzed the mutual effect of inflammatory bowel disease and depression using data from the National Health Insurance of Taiwan. The research team looked at 422 patients with IBD, 537 of their siblings who did not have IBD, and 2148 (control) of the general population who did not have IBD. In addition, patients with newly onset IBD or with depression were followed up for 11 years. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an autoimmune disease caused by abnormalities in the immune system, and refers to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Among them, Crohn’s disease shows symptoms such as very severe diarrhea, rectal bleeding, cramps, weight loss, and fever. It has a major impact on mental health and lowers quality of life.
The study found that people with inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn’s disease, were regarding nine times more likely to develop depression than those without. This association also affected the family. Among siblings of people with IBD, those who did not have IBD were regarding twice as likely to develop depression. Conversely, people with depression were twice as likely to develop inflammatory bowel disease as those without depression. “There is a two-way relationship between inflammatory bowel disease and depression,” said Bing Zhang, a gastroenterologist at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, the study’s lead author. According to the research team, the intestine is full of nerve endings (the ends of nerve fibers) that communicate with the brain, and inflammatory bowel disease increases the risk of depression, and depression increases the risk of inflammatory bowel disease. The gut, microbes, and brain form three axes and influence each other.
The research team said that, like other chronic diseases, IBD symptoms improved when patients with inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease treated depression with psychotherapy and serotonin enhancers. Mindfulness, meditation, yoga, stretching, music, art therapy, etc. can also be expected to have a good effect on inflammatory bowel disease patients. The research team especially emphasized the importance of preventing dehydration, stoma (ostomy) surgery and management in these patients. On the other hand, according to the results of a study at King’s College London in England (2021), compared to middle-aged adults without physical chronic diseases, the probability of having two chronic diseases was 1.41 times, three individuals 1.94 times, four individuals 2.38 times, and five or more persons. 2.89 times higher, respectively. In particular, people with chronic respiratory diseases were 3.23 times more likely to suffer from depression, and those with chronic digestive diseases were 2.19 times more likely to suffer from depression.
The results of this study (Bidirectional association between inflammatory bowel disease and depression among patients and their unaffected siblings) were published in the journal ≪Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology≫, and the health site ‘The Healthy’ of the American magazine ‘Reader’s Digest’ (The healthy)’ introduced.
By Kim Young-seop, staff reporter [email protected]
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