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Inflammatory bowel disease raises the risk of heart attack, the risk is independent of traditional risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and high cholesterol. This was the conclusion of a study that examined the link between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and heart disease by analyzing the medical records of different people.
According to the lead study author Dr. Muhammad S. Panhwar, a resident in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, IBD should be considered an independent risk factor for heart disease. It is a long-term disease that causes gastrointestinal (GI) tract inflammation. The gut becomes inflamed because the immune system attacks healthy and useful cells like the gut tissue.
There are two main types of IBD: ulcerative colitis, it affects the large intestine; and Crohn’s disease, which affects any part of the GI between the mouth and the anus. Common symptoms of IBD are abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and excreting blood.
IBD is not irritable bowel syndrome because IBD is not caused by inflammation, traditional risk factors for heart disease like smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are common in people with IBD. People with IBD may experienced a heart attack irrespective of age, gender, and race.
The independent risk is 23 percent higher than the risk of heart attack in people without IBD. Women with IBD under 40 years of age are at higher risk of heart attack than men with IBD of the same age. Above the age of 40, the risk of heart attack was similar in both males and females with IBD.
haleplushearty.org