Could Lifestyle Changes Prevent Crohn Disease?

A study across 6 American and European cohorts revealed the key to preventing the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The results of the study are published in Gut.

“Across six US and European cohorts, a substantial burden of inflammatory bowel diseases risk may be preventable through lifestyle modification,” the report read.

The investigators documented 346 cases of Crohn disease and 456 cases of ulcerative colitis among more than 5, 117, 021 person-years of follow-up. “In our validation cohorts, adherence to a low MRS and healthy lifestyle could have, respectively, prevented 43.9%–51.2% and 48.8%–60.4% of CD cases and 20.6%–27.8% and 46.8%–56.3% of UC cases.”

For the prospective cohort study, the researchers created modifiable risk scores (MRS) for participants based on their adherence to these lifestyle factors. Factors included smoking habits and frequency, body mass index, use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, physical activity levels, and dietary habits such as consumption of red meat, fruit and vegetable, and fiber intake.

The gold standard for defining a healthy lifestyle was based upon the recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the American Heart Association Guidelines for Healthy Living.

Based on the MRS scores, the analysis showed that a lower score could have prevented roughly 43% of CD cases and 44% of UC cases. Furthermore, adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle could prevent about 61% of CD cases and about 42% of UC cases.

—Priyam Vora

Reference:
Lopes EW, Chan SSM, Song M, et al. Lifestyle factors for the prevention of inflammatory bowel disease. Gut. Published online: Dec 6, 2022. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-328174