بیماری کولیت روده ریسک زوال عقل را افزایش می دهد

بیماری التهاب روده شامل بیماری کولیت روده و بیماری کرون روده است. هر دو موجب التهاب مزمن در دستگاه گوارشی می‌شوند که ناشی ازحمله اشتباه سیستم ایمنی است.

در مطالعه جدید بیش از ۱۹ هزار مرد بزرگسال مشخص شد افراد مبتلا به التهاب روده دو برابر بیشتر با احتمال ابتلا به زوال عقل در طول ۱۶ سال مواجه بودند. همچنین این گروه از افراد به طور میانگین ۷ سال زودتر بیماری‌شان تشخیص داده می‌شود.

دکتر بینگ ژانگ، سرپرست تیم تحیق از دانشگاه کالیفرنیا، در این باره می‌گوید: یک احتمال این است که برخی فاکتورهای سبک زندگی وجود چنین رابطه‌ای را توضیح می‌دهند.

تحقیق دیگری نشان داده است که بیماران مبتلا به التهاب روده در معرض ریسک بالاتر بیماری پارکینسون قرار دارند. شواهد آزمایشگاهی نشان می‌دهد فرآورده‌های متابولیکی که توسط باکتری‌های روده خاموش می‌شوند می‌توانند بر عملکرد مغز تاثیر بگذارند.

به گفته محققان، یک احتمال دیگر این است که التهاب مزمن روده به خودی خود زیربنای رابطه بین التهاب روده و زوال عقل است.

یافته‌های این مطالعه مبتنی بر گزارشات پزشکی ۱۷۴۲ بیماری تایوانی مبتلا به التهاب روده با سن ۴۵ سال به بالا بود.

در مجموع ۵.۵ درصد بیماران التهاب روده در طول ۶ سال مبتلا به زوال عقل تشخیص داده شدند درحالیکه تنها ۱.۴ درصد گروه کنترل مبتلا به زوال عقل شدند.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, is linked to a more than doubling in the risk of developing dementia, finds research published online in the journal Gut.

What’s more, dementia was diagnosed around 7 years earlier in people with IBD than it was in those without this gut condition, the findings of this large population-based study show.

Mounting evidence suggests that communication between the gut, its resident bacteria (microbiome), and the central nervous system, known as the ‘gut-brain axis,’ is implicated in various aspects of health and disease.

While the cause of IBD is not clear, it is thought to develop from an impairedimmune response to changes in the gut microbiome.

And recently published research suggests that IBD may have a role in the development of another neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s disease. But it’s not clear if IBD may also be linked to a heightened risk of dementia.

To explore this further, the researchers drew on data for 1742 people aged 45 and above who had been diagnosed with eitherulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease between 1998 and 2011, and registered with the Taiwan National Health Insurance programme. This was set up in 1995 and is compulsory for all Taiwanese residents.

Their cognitive health was tracked for 16 years following their IBD diagnosis and compared with that of 17,420 people who were matched for sex, age, access to healthcare, income, and underlying conditions, but who didn’t have IBD.

During the monitoring period, a larger proportion of those with IBD developed dementia (5.5%), including Alzheimer’s disease, than those without (1.5%).

Additionally, people with IBD were diagnosed with dementia an average of 7 years earlier (76) than those without IBD (83).

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.

Of all the dementias, the risk for Alzheimer’s disease was greatest: those with IBD were six times as likely to develop this as were those without IBD.

Neither sex nor type of IBD had any bearing on the findings. But the risk of dementia seemed to be associated with increasing length of time a person had had IBD.

This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause and effect. Nor were the researchers able to gather information on potentially influential lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, or assess the impact of anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed.

But they point to previously published research, indicating chronic inflammationand an imbalance in gut bacteria as potential contributors to cognitive decline.

And they conclude: “The identification of increased dementia risk and earlier onset among patients with IBD suggest that [they] might benefit from education and increased clinical vigilance,” to slow cognitive declineand improve quality of life.