Lifestyle Modification Can Reduce Proportion of IBD Burden

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A considerable proportion of the burden of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD) could be prevented by lifestyle modification, according to a study published online Dec. 6 in Gut.

Emily W. Lopes, M.D., M.P.H., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study of 72,290 U.S. adults from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), 93,909 from the NHSII, and 41,871 from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Based on established lifestyle risk factors, modifiable risk scores (MRS; 0 to 6) were created for CD and UC; healthy lifestyle scores (0 to 9) were derived from American healthy lifestyle recommendations. The population attributable risk was calculated by comparing the incidence of CD and UC between low- and high-risk groups. The findings were validated externally in three European cohorts.

The researchers found that 346 CD and 456 UC cases were documented during 5,117,021 person-years of follow-up. Overall, 42.9 and 44.4 percent of CD and UC cases could have been prevented by adherence to low MRS. Similarly, 61.1 and 42.2 percent of CD and UC cases, respectively, could have been prevented by adherence to a healthy lifestyle. In the validation cohorts, 43.9 to 51.2 and 48.8 to 60.4 percent of CD cases and 20.6 to 27.8 and 46.8 to 56.3 percent of UC cases could have been prevented by adherence to low MRS and healthy lifestyle, respectively.

"Further prospective interventional studies are needed to determine whether lifestyle modification is effective for the primary prevention of inflammatory bowel disease, particularly in high-risk population and younger-onset disease," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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