App use increases patient engagement, yields better health outcomes Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who used a collaborative disease management app saw a significant improvement in care and quality of life (QoL), researchers reported here. Among 320 patients with IBD, those randomized to HealthPROMISE — an app designed to increase patient engagement and self-management skills —
Shared inflammatory pathways and genetics may predispose patients with respiratory conditions to developing IBD Ever-mounting evidence is strengthening the link between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and immune-mediated respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Research has suggested that IBD and airway illnesses likely share common inflammatory pathways as well as predisposing
Safe conception and pregnancy during treatment, but also at issue: body image, sexuality, cervical cancer risk Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), affecting approximately one in 500 people in the United States, occurs about equally in men and women. But gender-specific physiologic and psychological differences can have an impact on patient care and outcomes, especially in females
Delay in IBD diagnosis may be linked to stunted growth in children
Canadian researchers found an independent correlation between delay in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis and height impairment, with every one standard deviation decrease in height-to-age z-score tied to a nearly 70% higher diagnostic delay risk. The findings in the Archives of Disease in Childhood also showed an independent link between bloody diarrhea and a reduced
Clinical measures can predict risks in acute severe colitis A study in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology found evaluating clinical features in patients with acute severe colitis may help predict the long-term risk of colectomy and steroid dependence. The four measures included in the study were patient response on day seven of hospitalization, steroid
The contribution of environmental factors, diet, and related issues like the status of the microbiome once again come into focus in a recent medical article. A Canadian study in The American Journal of Gastroenterology linked living in a rural area with a lower risk of inflammatory bowel disease. The protective effect was particularly strong among
Link Between Antibiotics and IBD Remains Circumstantial Effect stronger in children, and underscores need for antibiotic stewardship in prescribing for pediatric infections Since inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is linked to disruption of the intestinal microbiome, antibiotics have come under increasing scrutiny as possible environmental catalysts in IBD – especially if taken in early childhood. So
There is sometimes heated discussion about adherence to medical regimens being of value, both to an individual patient and to broader patient categories. Inflammatory bowel disease is certainly one of these contentious areas. Patients often seem to go from doctor to doctor, seeking out one who agrees with the decisions they have already made. Even
Considerable interest has arisen in recent years regarding the role of the human microbiome in health and disease, including in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — a category of disease that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and is thought to result from the interplay between immune system alterations, environmental triggers, genetic factors, and the interaction
Infestation with benign parasitic worms is one possible explanation for the low incidence of autoimmune diseases and allergies in less developed countries and, conversely, for the sustained increase in such inflammatory conditions in more sanitized and hence “dewormed” industrialized societies. Joel V. Weinstock, MD, of Tufts Medical Center in Boston, writing in Nature in an article
