Inflammatory bowel diseases (or IBD) include Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC): these two very disabling pathologies are caused by dysregulation of the intestinal immune system and affect more than 200,000 patients in France.
According to a recent study conducted by the University of Southern California (in the United States), ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease could be linked to depression.
Thus, by studying 11 years of medical data concerning 20 million people living in Taiwan, American researchers discovered that patients diagnosed with IBD had (approximately) a 9 times greater risk of developing depression. Conversely, patients diagnosed with depression had (approximately) twice the risk of developing IBD during their lifetime.
Gut microbiota responsible?
How to explain this link? For researchers,it is easy to understand that patients with IBD have an increased risk of developing depression, considering how the symptoms of these inflammatory diseases can affect the quality of life” they write in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
The link between depression and higher risk of IBD is less obvious: “we think it has to do with the intestinal microbiota, since our belly is our “second brain” and is linked to our central nervous system“.
More surprisingly, the American researchers have also observed the existence of a “family risk”: thus, relatives (brothers and sisters) of patients with IBD present a risk twice as high of developing depression. “It could be caregiver fatigue.“the scientists point out.
Read also :
- IBD: is remission possible?
- A web series to explain IBD
- Inflammatory bowel disease: what is a stoma?
