Scientists from the Soroka Medical Center in Israel found that patients with inflammatory bowel disease are more likely to develop colon and rectal cancer. The research was published in the journal Borders in Medicine.
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are inflammatory bowel diseases whose symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea. Previous studies have shown that the incidence of colorectal cancer (a malignant tumor of the colon and rectum) associated with ulcerative colitis varies from 5% after 10 years of disease to 40% after 25 years. Screening methods, including biopsy and high-resolution endoscopy, can significantly reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
The new study used data from Israeli patients collected from 2000 to 2021. The analysis confirmed that people with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease had a higher incidence of colorectal cancer than the general population.
In this study, the incidence rate of colorectal cancer in patients with ulcerative colitis was 2.1%. In another analysis done earlier in Canada, this figure had reached 3.7%. Other studies have reported a reduction in the incidence of colorectal cancer in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, possibly due to increased screening.
The authors also found that inflammatory bowel disease is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome, which includes type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and other disorders. Patients with ulcerative colitis and diabetes were more likely to develop colorectal cancer, but this association was not observed in people with Crohn’s disease.
Scientists have also found factors that increase the risk of colorectal cancer in inflammatory bowel disease: primary sclerosing cholangitis, use of glucocorticoid steroids, the presence of diabetes in ulcerative colitis (but not in Crohn’s disease).
These results have practical implications for the screening and treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
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