Stress may trigger bowel troubles
Stress can trigger the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and a new study suggests this may be right.
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Stress can trigger the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and a new study suggests this may be right.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to a group of conditions marked by chronic inflammation in the intestines, leading to symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The major forms are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The precise cause of the conditions is unclear, but they are thought to involve an immune system overreaction that injures the body's own intestinal tissue.
While stress does not cause IBD, it is one of the environmental factors suspected of triggering symptom flare-ups in some people. Studies show that many people with IBD feel that stress worsens their symptoms, but there has been relatively little scientific evidence of that. To explore the association between stress and IBD, researchers followed 552 men and women with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis who completed surveys every three months for one year. The surveys asked about, among other things, symptom flare-ups, stressful events and perceived stress - that is, how well the patients felt they could deal with their daily stresses.
Overall, 174 patients reported a symptom flare-up during the study period, meaning they had a three-month period of symptoms after having been symptom-free the previous three months. It was found that patients' risk of a symptom flare-up increased by more than two-fold when they reported high levels of perceived stress in the preceding three-month period. Of patients who reported a flare-up, 50 percent had had high perceived stress levels in the preceding three months, compared with 30 percent of those who remained symptom-free.
On the other hand, certain other factors suspected of triggering IBD symptoms showed no relationship to flare-ups. Those factors included use of antibiotics or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers - such as aspirin and ibuprofen - and infections such as colds, pneumonia and urinary tract infections.
The findings lend support to what many people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have believed to be true that psychological factors contribute to IBD symptom flares.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to a group of conditions marked by chronic inflammation in the intestines, leading to symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The major forms are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The precise cause of the conditions is unclear, but they are thought to involve an immune system overreaction that injures the body's own intestinal tissue.
While stress does not cause IBD, it is one of the environmental factors suspected of triggering symptom flare-ups in some people. Studies show that many people with IBD feel that stress worsens their symptoms, but there has been relatively little scientific evidence of that. To explore the association between stress and IBD, researchers followed 552 men and women with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis who completed surveys every three months for one year. The surveys asked about, among other things, symptom flare-ups, stressful events and perceived stress - that is, how well the patients felt they could deal with their daily stresses.
Overall, 174 patients reported a symptom flare-up during the study period, meaning they had a three-month period of symptoms after having been symptom-free the previous three months. It was found that patients' risk of a symptom flare-up increased by more than two-fold when they reported high levels of perceived stress in the preceding three-month period. Of patients who reported a flare-up, 50 percent had had high perceived stress levels in the preceding three months, compared with 30 percent of those who remained symptom-free.
On the other hand, certain other factors suspected of triggering IBD symptoms showed no relationship to flare-ups. Those factors included use of antibiotics or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers - such as aspirin and ibuprofen - and infections such as colds, pneumonia and urinary tract infections.
The findings lend support to what many people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have believed to be true that psychological factors contribute to IBD symptom flares.
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