Although evidence suggests a persistently decreased risk of colorectal cancer for up to 10 years among individuals with a negative endoscopic biopsy result (i.e., normal mucosa), concerns have been ...raised about other long-term health outcomes among these individuals. In this study, we aimed to explore the long-term risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) after an endoscopic biopsy with normal mucosa.
In the present nationwide cohort study, we identified all individuals in Sweden with a lower or upper gastrointestinal (GI) biopsy of normal mucosa during 1965 to 2016 (exposed, n = 200,495 and 257,192 for lower and upper GI biopsy, respectively), their individually matched population references (n = 989,484 and 1,268,897), and unexposed full siblings (n = 221,179 and 274,529). Flexible parametric model estimated hazard ratio (HR) as an estimate of the association between a GI biopsy of normal mucosa and IBD as well as cumulative incidence of IBD, with 95% confidence interval (CI). The first 6 months after GI biopsy were excluded to avoid detection bias, surveillance bias, or reverse causation. During a median follow-up time of approximately 10 years, 4,853 individuals with a lower GI biopsy of normal mucosa developed IBD (2.4%) compared to 0.4% of the population references. This corresponded to an incidence rate (IR) of 20.39 and 3.39 per 10,000 person-years in the respective groups or 1 extra estimated IBD case among 37 exposed individuals during the 30 years after normal GI biopsy. The exposed individuals had a persistently higher risk of overall IBD (average HR = 5.56; 95% CI: 5.28 to 5.85), ulcerative colitis (UC, average HR = 5.20; 95% CI: 4.85 to 5.59) and Crohn's disease (CD, average HR = 6.99; 95% CI: 6.38 to 7.66) than their matched population references. In the sibling comparison, average HRs were 3.27 (3.05 to 3.51) for overall IBD, 3.27 (2.96 to 3.61) for UC, and 3.77 (3.34 to 4.26) for CD. For individuals with an upper GI biopsy of normal mucosa, the average HR of CD was 2.93 (2.68 to 3.21) and 2.39 (2.10 to 2.73), compared with population references and unexposed full siblings, respectively. The increased risk of IBD persisted at least 30 years after cohort entry. Study limitations include lack of data on indications for biopsy and potential residual confounding from unmeasured risk or protective factors for IBD.
Endoscopic biopsy with normal mucosa was associated with an elevated IBD incidence for at least 30 years. This may suggest a substantial symptomatic period of IBD and incomplete diagnostic examinations in patients with early IBD.
Summary
Background
There are limited data on population‐wide assessment of cost in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).
Aim
To estimate the societal cost of actively treated CD and UC in ...Sweden.
Methods
We identified 10 117 prevalent CD and 19 762 prevalent UC patients, aged ≥18 years on 1 January 2014 and 4028 adult incident CD cases and 8659 adult incident UC cases (2010‐2013) from Swedish Patient Register. Each case was matched to five population comparators. Healthcare costs were calculated from medications, outpatient visits, hospitalisations and surgery. Cost of productivity losses was derived from disability pension and sick leave.
Results
The mean annual societal costs per working‐age patient (18‐64 years) with CD and UC were $22 813 (vs $7533 per comparator) and $14 136 (vs $7351 per comparator), respectively. In patients aged ≥65 years, the mean annual costs of CD and UC were $9726 and $8072 vs $3875 and $4016 per comparator, respectively. The majority of cost for both CD (56%) and UC (59%) patients originated from productivity losses. Higher societal cost of working‐age CD patients as compared to UC patients was related to greater utilisation of anti‐TNF (22.2% vs 7.4%) and increased annual disability pension (44 days vs 25 days). Among incident CD and UC patients, the mean total cost over the first year per patient was over three times higher than comparators.
Conclusion
In Sweden, the societal cost of incident and prevalent CD and UC patients was consistently two to three times higher than the general population.
Despite several plausible biological mechanisms linking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and H2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) with colorectal tumorigenesis, their association with risk of colorectal ...cancer (CRC) has not been adequately assessed in prospective epidemiological studies.
We evaluated the association of acid-suppressive medication use with CRC risk among 175,871 (PPI) and 208,831 (H2RA) participants from three large prospective cohort studies. Medication use was assessed at baseline and updated biennially. The association was evaluated using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models.
There was no significant association between baseline PPI use (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.71-1.12) or PPI use after a lag of 8-10 years (HR = 1.12, 95% CI, 0.78-1.59) with CRC risk. We observed no significant association between H2RA use after a lag of 8-10 years and CRC risk (HR = 1.02, 95% CI, 0.81-1.28), while risk was lower for participants with baseline H2RA use (HR = 0.76, 95% CI, 0.60-0.95). Duration of PPI use or H2RA use was not associated with CRC risk (P-trend = 0.21 and 0.95, respectively).
Among participants from three large prospective cohorts, use of PPI or H2RA was not associated with higher risk of colorectal cancer.
Background While individuals with normal gastrointestinal (GI) mucosa on endoscopy have a lower risk of colorectal cancer, risks of other cancers remain unexplored. Methods Through Sweden's 28 ...pathology departments, we identified 415,092 individuals with a first GI biopsy with histologically normal mucosa during 1965-2016 and no prior cancer. These individuals were compared to 1,939,215 matched reference individuals from the general population. Follow-up began 6 months after biopsy, and incident cancer data were retrieved from the Swedish Cancer Register. Flexible parametric model was applied to estimate cumulative incidences and hazard ratios (HRs) for cancers. We also used full siblings (n = 441,534) as a secondary comparison group. Results During a median follow-up of 10.9 years, 40,935 individuals with normal mucosa (incidence rate: 82.74 per 10,000 person-years) and 177,350 reference individuals (incidence rate: 75.26) developed cancer. Restricting the data to individuals where follow-up revealed no cancer in the first 6 months, we still observed an increased risk of any cancer in those with a histologically normal mucosa (average HR = 1.07; 95%CI = 1.06-1.09). Although the HR for any and specific cancers decreased shortly after biopsy, we observed a long-term excess risk of any cancer, with an HR of 1.08 (95%CI = 1.05-1.12) and a cumulative incidence difference of 0.93% (95%CI = 0.61%-1.25%) at 30 years after biopsy. An elevated risk of gastric cancer, lung cancer, and hematological malignancy (including lymphoproliferative malignancy) was also observed at 20 or 30 years since biopsy. Sibling analyses confirmed the above findings. Conclusion Individuals with a histologically normal mucosa at biopsy and where follow-up revealed no cancer in the first 6 months, may still be at increased risk of cancer, although excess risks are small. Keywords: Gastrointestinal, Histology, Normal mucosa, Cancer, Cohort, Screening
Background & Aims Emerging data suggest that changes in intestinal permeability and increased gut microbial translocation contribute to the inflammatory pathway involved in nonalcoholic ...steatohepatitis (NASH) development. Numerous studies have investigated the association between increased intestinal permeability and NASH. Our meta-analysis of this association investigates the underlying mechanism. Methods A meta-analysis was performed to compare the rates of increased intestinal permeability in patients with NASH and healthy controls. To further address the underlying mechanism of action, we studied changes in intestinal permeability in a diet-induced (methionine-and-choline-deficient; MCD) murine model of NASH. In vitro studies were also performed to investigate the effect of MCD culture medium at the cellular level on hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, and intestinal epithelial cells. Results Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients, and in particular those with NASH, are more likely to have increased intestinal permeability compared with healthy controls. We correlate this clinical observation with in vivo data showing mice fed an MCD diet develop intestinal permeability changes after an initial phase of liver injury and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) induction. In vitro studies reveal that MCD medium induces hepatic injury and TNFα production yet has no direct effect on intestinal epithelial cells. Although these data suggest a role for hepatic TNFα in altering intestinal permeability, we found that mice genetically resistant to TNFα-myosin light chain kinase (MLCK)–induced intestinal permeability changes fed an MCD diet still develop increased permeability and liver injury. Conclusions Our clinical and experimental results strengthen the association between intestinal permeability increases and NASH and also suggest that an early phase of hepatic injury and inflammation contributes to altered intestinal permeability in a fashion independent of TNFα and MLCK.
Sleep deprivation is associated with production of inflammatory cytokines. Disturbed sleep quality has been associated with increased risk of disease flare in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ...ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the association between sleep and risk of incident CD and UC has not been previously examined.
We conducted a prospective study of women who were enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) I since 1976 and NHS II since 1989 and followed through detailed biennial questionnaires with >90% follow-up. We examined the association of sleep duration reported in 1986 in NHS I and 2001 in NHS II with incident CD and UC, diagnosed through 2010, in NHS I and 2009 in NHS II. Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for potential confounders were used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Among 151,871 women, we confirmed 191 cases of CD (incidence, 8/100,000 person-years) and 230 cases of UC (incidence, 10/100,000 person-years) over 2,292,849 person-years. Compared with women with reported usual sleep durations of 7-8 h/day (incidence, 8/100,000 person-years), women with reported sleep duration <6 h/day (11/100,000 person-years) or >9 h/day (20/100,000 person-years) had a higher incidence of UC (P < .05). The multivariate hazard ratios for UC were 1.51 (95% CI, 1.10-2.09) for sleep durations <6 h/day and 2.05 (95% CI, 1.44-2.92) for sleep durations >9 h/day, compared with sleep durations of 7-8 h/day. In contrast, sleep duration did not modify risk of CD. Duration of rotating night shift work was not associated with CD or UC.
On the basis of data from the NHS I and II, less than 6 hours sleep/day and more than 9 hours sleep/day are each associated with an increased risk of UC. Further studies are needed to evaluate sleep as a modifiable risk factor in the pathogenesis and progression of IBD.
Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), collectively known as inflammatory bowel diseases, are archetypical inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract with rising incidence ...worldwide. Although the role of genetic factors in disease development has been highlighted by genome-wide association studies, environmental risk factors likely play a pivotal role in development of CD and UC. Prior observational studies have suggested a link between exogenous hormone use and risk of CD and UC. Specifically, studies have shown an association between oral contraceptive use and risk of CD and menopausal hormone therapy and risk of UC. Although the exact mechanism of these associations is largely unknown, a number of hypotheses have been proposed. First, oral estrogen has been shown to modify intestinal permeability, a critical step in the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease. Second, exogenous hormone use through its effect on endogenous levels of hormones may enhance the development of Th1- and Th2-mediated inflammatory diseases. Lastly, recent data have linked modification in the gut microbiome to endogenous levels of androgens, which are also known to be altered with exogenous hormone use and influence the development of autoimmune diseases. This supports the intriguing hypothesis that the gut microbiome lies at the crossroads of pathways linking exogenous hormone use with innate and adaptive immunity. Future studies should therefore focus on bridging these epidemiologic findings to disease pathogenesis through comprehensive understanding of the complex interaction between exogenous hormone use, sex steroid biomarkers, genetic risk loci, and alterations in the intestinal microbial environment in the etiology of CD and UC.
Dietary iron and heme, likely through their effect on gut commensal bacteria and colonic barrier function, have been shown to modulate colonic inflammation in animal models of colitis. Nonetheless, ...the link between dietary total and heme iron and risk of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) has not been previously explored.
We conducted a prospective cohort study of 165,331 U.S. women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II. Dietary information was collected using a validated food frequency questionnaire at baseline (1984) and updated every 2 to 4 years. Self-reported CD and UC diagnoses were confirmed through medical records review. We used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals while adjusting for potential confounders. In a case-control study nested within these cohorts, we evaluated the interaction between single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with genome-wide susceptibility to CD and UC and dietary total and heme iron intake on risk of CD and UC using logistic regression modeling.
Through 2011, over 3,038,049 person-years of follow-up, we documented 261 incident cases of CD and 321 incident cases of UC. Dietary heme iron was nonsignificantly associated with increased risk of UC (Ptrend = 0.12). This association seemed to be modified by the UC susceptibility locus, rs1801274, a coding variant in the FcγRIIA gene (Pinteraction = 7.00E-05). In contrast, there was no association between dietary heme iron and risk of CD (Ptrend = 0.67). We also did not observe an association between total dietary intake of iron and risk of CD or UC (All Ptrend > 0.35).
In 2 large prospective cohort studies, dietary total and heme iron were not associated with risk of CD or UC. Our suggestive finding that the association between dietary heme iron intake and risk of UC may be modified by a coding variant in FcγRIIA gene warrants additional investigation.
Background
Prior studies have inconsistently suggested that biologic therapy may be associated with weight gain in inflammatory bowel disease patients (IBD). Our aim was to compare weight gain across ...different biologic therapy classes with distinct mechanisms of action.
Methods
This prospective cohort study recruited patients with moderate to severe IBD initiating outpatient biologic therapy with anti-TNF (infliximab, adalimumab), vedolizumab, or ustekinumab. Weight measurements were performed at weeks 0, 14, 30, and 54. Changes in weight between baseline and each of the follow-up visits were modeled as a continuous variable, and multivariate regression assessed the independent effect of therapeutic class on this outcome.
Results
Our study enrolled 269 patients (163 CD, 106 UC) initiating biologic therapy 99 anti-TNF (37%), 122 vedolizumab (45%), 48 ustekinumab (18%). From baseline, the weight significantly increased at week 14 with a mean of 0.36 kg (± 3.8 kg,
p
= 0.004) and continued to increase compared to baseline with 0.96 kg (± 3.9 kg,
p
< 0.001) and 1.29 kg (± 4.2 kg,
p
< 0.001) at week 30 and 54, respectively. On univariate and multivariable analysis, no significant differences between any of the biologic therapies for weight gain were seen at any time point (weight gain anti-TNF: 0.31 kg, 1.06 kg, 1.33 kg; VDZ: 0.30 kg, 0.83 kg, 1.10 kg; UST: 0.63 kg, 1.21 kg, 2.31 kg at wk 14, wk 30, and wk 54, respectively). None of the disease activity parameters showed any statistical association with weight gain.
Conclusion
There was no difference in weight gain among the different biologic therapeutic classes.
Recent epidemiologic studies have shown that although the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rapidly increasing in newly industrialized countries, at the turn of the 21st century the ...incidence had stabilized in the Western world. In this issue of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Torabi and colleagues present their findings on the temporal trends and geographic variations in IBD incidence in Manitoba from 1990 to 2012 using the Manitoba Health population registry and the University of Manitoba IBD epidemiology database. Their results demonstrate an overall decrease in the incidence of IBD during the study period. They also found significant regional variations in disease incidence within Manitoba, with rates of new diagnosis of IBD remaining high in several regions. Lastly, the study found that a higher proportion of the indigenous population had a lower rate of IBD. These findings provide new insights on the changing epidemiology of IBD in the Western world. The overall declining incidence of IBD and identification of persistently low and high-risk populations in Manitoba, which traditionally has had some of the highest incidence rates of IBD, is intriguing and can provide new avenues of research for epidemiologists in the field.
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