Inflammatory bowel disease in childhood associated with increased risk of cancer
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a term used to describe two conditions that involve inflammation of the gut: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease . People of any age can get IBD, but it's usually diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 40. Previous studies have identified higher rates of cancer among patients with IBD than the general population, but these studies have lacked the population size or follow-up to assess trends in lifetime risks in childhood onset IBD. So a team of international researchers set out to assess the risk of cancer in patients with childhood onset inflammatory bowel disease in childhood and adulthood. They compared 9,405 people living in Sweden who were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease before they were 18 years of age with 92,870 healthy individuals (reference individuals) matched for sex, age, birth year, and place of residence. They analysed risk of cancer before 18th birthday, 25th birthday, and throughout the study period (19...