Patient schizophrenia High risk of developing Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) Compared to the general population, according to a large study from Taiwan that provides more evidence of brain-intestinal correlation.
The study also shows that patients with schizophrenia develop IBD at a young age and are at increased risk if schizophrenia is poorly managed.
“Physician vigilance and awareness of this correlation improve IBD diagnosis and management of this vulnerable patient population,” wrote Kuan-Yi Sung and colleagues at Taipei Veterans General Hospital School of Medicine.
The research is Published online of Gastroenterological pharmacology and therapeutics.
Risk more than tripled
The prevalence of IBD, a chronic gastrointestinal disorder, is increasing worldwide, and the exact cause of the disorder remains unknown. Schizophrenia, a chronic and severe mental illness, affects almost 1% of the world’s population.
Given increasing evidence of the connection between the intestine and the brain, Sung et al. Used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to match 116,164 patients with schizophrenia with new cases of 464,656 controls. I investigated the risk of IBD.
The overall incidence of IBD was significantly higher among patients with schizophrenia compared to the corresponding controls (1.14% vs. 0.25%,). P <.001).This was true for both Ulcerative colitis (0.72% vs 0.12%, P <.001) and Crohn’s disease (0.42% vs. 0.13%, P <.001).
Patients with schizophrenia also developed IBD at a younger age than the corresponding controls (46.8 years vs. 55.3 years). P <.001).
In a coordinated analysis, patients with schizophrenia had a more than three-fold increased risk of developing IBD (hazard ratio). [HR], 3.28; 95% CI, 2.49 – 4.33). IBD risk was high in both ulcerative colitis Colitis (HR, 4.84; 95% CI, 3.32 – 7.07) and Crohn’s disease (HR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.37 – 3.15).
More patients with schizophrenia had moderate to severe IBD compared to controls (36.8% vs. 20.5%,) P = .004).
“Interestingly, the risk of IBD was higher among patients with more severe schizophrenia, reflected in more frequent psychiatric hospitalizations,” the researchers write.
The risk of developing IBD is Anxiety disorder But not among patients with other autoimmune diseases, obesity,smoking, Bipolar disorderOr major depressive disorder.
The use of typical or atypical antipsychotics did not affect the development of IBD.
Researchers, their observations Percentage of inpatients with mental illness from northern Finland. We found that IBD was significantly overestimated in patients with schizophrenia.
Sung et al. State that their study provides “the most robust and comprehensive assessment of the risk of newly developing IBD in patients with schizophrenia.”
Support for cerebrointestinal connections
“This is an interesting study and additional evidence that there may be a link between the brain and the intestine,” said Miguel Legero, MD, chair of the Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Cleveland, Ohio. is.
“There are other neuropsychiatric disorders that show similar associations, such as autism, dementia, etc. depression“Gut-brain axis may be interrelated with these diseases,” said Legero, who was not involved in the study. It is not clear whether there is a causal relationship between the intestinal microflora of IBD and these neurological and psychiatric conditions.
“At this time, not all patients with schizophrenia are screened for IBD, but if patients with schizophrenia develop gastrointestinal symptoms such as pain, weight loss, and rectal bleeding, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. You need to be more aware of the flames. diarrhea“Legueiro advised.
Retrospective design is the limit of the study, he said, “the true cause and effect cannot be completely determined.”
“Furthermore, the patient population is Taiwanese and I don’t know if this will be extrapolated to other populations,” he said.
This study was supported by Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Yen Tjing Ling Medical Foundation, and Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology. The author and Requeiro do not disclose the relevant financial relationship.
AlimentPharmacolTher. Published online on March 8, 2022. overview
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