Over the past 20 years, the prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has doubled in Western countries. Scientists from Denmark have found that children with IBD already at birth have changes associated with the disease. The study was published in the journal Gastroenterology.
In IBD, the immune system attacks a person's intestines, leading to chronic inflammation, bowel problems, abdominal pain and fatigue. In recent years, researchers have learned that certain inflammatory markers can be detected in blood samples up to 10 years before formal diagnosis. This suggests that the disease begins to develop much earlier than previously thought, but does not manifest symptoms.
In the new study, researchers compared blood samples from newborns who were followed until they were six years old. It turned out that their blood parameters differ already in infancy. This fact will help in the future to find options for preventing IBD in children.
“Because young children are often unable to describe their pain, the results could open the door to screening newborns for early signs of IBD, potentially allowing us to prevent its onset,” the scientists explained.
