People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Might Be at Higher Risk for Dementia, Study Finds

A study published in Gut suggests a link between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cognitive decline, reports CNN . The researchers analyzed 1,742 people with IBD who were 45 or older, compared to more than 17,400 healthy individuals. Subjects were tracked for up to 16 years, and those with IBD had a 4.1 percent higher incidence of dementia, and were diagnosed more than seven years earlier than those without IBD. The overall incidence of dementia was 5.5 percent among persons with IBD, versus 1.4 percent among those who lacked the disease. Individuals with IBD were at highest risk for Alzheimer's dementia and vascular dementia, while the association between IBD and dementia was the same for men and women. The risk for dementia also rose with the increasing severity and duration of IBD. Earlier studies determined that people with IBD who are in remission and asymptomatic can still have lingering inflammation, and the new study's authors believe both inflammation during symptoms and inflammation during remission could contribute to dementia. Bing Zhang at the University of California, San Francisco said one possible explanation for the IBD-dementia link is that IBD could damage intestinal bacteria that help produce and release neurological messengers that help regulate inflammation.