Life

Risk of dementia doubled for inflammatory bowel disease patients, according to new study

People with irritable bowel disease are at higher risk of developing dementia – and at an earlier stage – than people without a gut condition
People with irritable bowel disease are at higher risk of developing dementia – and at an earlier stage – than people without a gut condition People with irritable bowel disease are at higher risk of developing dementia – and at an earlier stage – than people without a gut condition

PEOPLE with a gut condition have twice the risk of dementia of the general population, a new study has found. And those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease – are likely to be diagnosed with the condition earlier in their lives.

The authors said there is increasing evidence supporting "reciprocal communication" between the gut and central nervous system in disease, termed the "gut-brain axis".

Previous studies have found a link between IBD and Parkinson's disease. So the Taiwanese researchers set out to investigate the links between IBD and dementia. Using a national Taiwanese database, 1,742 IBD patients were identified and compared with more than 17,000 people without this condition. The participants were tracked for 16 years to see whether they developed dementia.

Just 1.4 per cent of people in the control group went on to develop dementia compared with 5.5 per cent of patients with IBD.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, including age and underlying conditions, people with IBD were more than twice as likely to develop dementia as those without.

Patients with IBD were diagnosed with dementia at 76 years old on average, compared with 83 among the control group.

"Vigilance and education for dementia among elderly patients with IBD may improve early intervention to slow cognitive decline and improve quality of life," the authors wrote.

"The role of gut health and the gut microbiome is currently a key focus in dementia research," Fiona Carragher of the Alzheimer's Society, said. "If we can understand more about this complex relationship between brain and gut health, it could open up new approaches to tackling dementia, which affects 850,000 people in the UK."