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. 2023 Mar 12;23(1):71.
doi: 10.1186/s12876-023-02692-9.

Lifestyle factors associated with inflammatory bowel disease: data from the Swiss IBD cohort study

Severin A Lautenschlager  1 , Mamadou Pathé Barry  2 , Gerhard Rogler  1 , Luc Biedermann  1 , Philipp Schreiner  1 , Alexander R Siebenhüner  3   4 ; Swiss IBD Cohort Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Lifestyle factors associated with inflammatory bowel disease: data from the Swiss IBD cohort study

Severin A Lautenschlager et al. BMC Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Background: Various environmental risk factors have been associated with the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. In this study we aimed to identify lifestyle factors that affect the onset of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Methods: 2294 patients from the Swiss IBD Cohort Study received a questionnaire regarding physical activity, nutritional habits and status of weight. In addition, a control group was formed comprising patients' childhood friends, who grew up in a similar environment.

Results: Overall, 1111 questionnaires were returned (response rate: 48.4%). Significantly more patients with inflammatory bowel disease reported no regular practice of sport during childhood and beginning of adulthood compared to the control group (p = 0.0001). No association between intake of refined sugar and onset of inflammatory bowel disease was observed. More patients with Crohn's disease compared to ulcerative colitis and controls suffered from overweight during childhood (12.8% vs. 7.7% and 9.7%, respectively; p = 0.027).

Conclusions: Our study underlines the relevance of environmental factors in the development of inflammatory bowel disease. Our results imply a protective effect of physical activity regarding the onset of inflammatory bowel disease.

Keywords: Environmental factors; Inflammatory bowel disease; Nutrition; Physical activity; Swiss IBD cohort study.

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Conflict of interest statement

Luc Biedermann reports fees for consulting/advisory board from Abbvie, MSD, Vifor, Falk, Esocap, Calypso, Ferring, Pfizer, Shire, Takeda, Janssen, Sanofi, Ewopharma. Philipp Schreiner received consulting fees from Pfizer, Takeda and Janssen-Cilag and travel support from Falk, UCB, Abbvie and Pfizer. All other authors have nothing to disclose.

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