Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a long-term health condition, increasingly affecting more people across the World. IBD can result in distressing symptoms including diarrhoea, incontinence and fatigue. There are two broad types – Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Both may result in repeated hospital visits, bowel surgery and poor health. We do not fully understand what causes IBD and why it is becoming more common. We do know that a person’s risk of getting IBD may be due to genetics and environmental influences, such as diet. One way of understanding more about the potential causes of IBD is investigating how IBD differs in people living in different countries.
We are working on a global research project, led by Professor Charles Bernstein (University of Manitoba, Canada). Professor Bernstein’s work focuses on investigating potential causes of IBD, by collecting data from large groups of patients. This study aims to investigate differences in the type and severity of IBD across countries Worldwide.
Specific to CD, we are interested to learn whether where someone lives affects their risk of strictures (bowel narrowings causing pain, nausea and difficulty eating) and fistulae (abnormal tracks between the gut and other organs, where symptoms depend on the organ affected). Strictures and fistulae indicate more severe IBD, which is harder to treat and impacts quality of life.
We aim to contribute to this global project by collecting data on patients living in the United Kingdom (UK). The UK has a diverse population and given the large volumes of data the BioResource has from UK IBD patients, these data will be the best representation of the UK IBD population.
Identifying differences in the type and behaviour of IBD in people in different countries will provide valuable information that will help direct further studies to identify factors that cause IBD.
