Chronic conditions, such as arthritis and respiratory disease, are significantly more common in adults with inflammatory bowel disease than in those without IBD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The age-adjusted prevalence of arthritis in adults with IBD is 36.3%, compared with 21.1% for those without IBD, and the prevalence of respiratory disease is 27.3% for IBD patients and 16.6% for non-IBD patients, CDC investigators reported in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Other comorbid chronic conditions with a significantly higher prevalence in patients with IBD than in those without were ulcer (26% vs. 5.5%), cardiovascular disease (19.2% vs. 12%), and cancer (13.7% vs. 8.1%), said Fang Xu, PhD, of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and associates.
Serious psychological distress in the past 30 days was significantly more prevalent in adults with IBD (7.4%) than in those without it (3.4%), and those with IBD were also significantly more likely to report averaging less than 7 hours of sleep than were those without IBD (38.2% vs. 32.2%), according to their analysis of the 2015 and 2016 National Health Interview Surveys.
“Given the disease’s complexity and the effects of chronic conditions and symptoms, optimal IBD care might require a multidisciplinary approach that includes gastroenterologists, preventive medicine specialists, and other medical practitioners,” the investigators wrote.
SOURCE: Xu F et al. MMWR. 2018 Feb 16;67(6);190-5.