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Are You at Risk for Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Posted: April 1, 2006

Researchers have found that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is more common among certain groups of people. These include:
- People who have a family member with IBD
- White people of Jewish decent
- People of higher socioeconomic classes
- People who live in cities
- People who live in developed countries

Smoking also seems to affect a person's risk of getting IBD.

More than 1 million people in the United States have IBD. Most people find out they have IBD between the ages of 15 and 35. Approximately the same number of women and men get IBD.

What causes inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)?
No one knows for sure what causes IBD, but researchers think the following things may all play a role:
- A faulty immune system
- Heredity
- Environment

IBD tends to run in families. Roughly 10 to 30 percent of people with IBD have a relative with the disease.

Many researchers think that abnormal action of a person's immune system may trigger IBD. In people with IBD, the immune system seems to overreact to something in the digestive tract, and once it starts working, the immune system in IBD fails to "shut off." This causes the ongoing inflammation, ulcers and other problems of IBD. Some researchers think a virus or bacterium may trigger the immune system to act this way.

Some things in a person's environment also seem to boost a person's chances of getting IBD, such as a lifestyle that includes little physical activity.

Contrary to popular belief, neither stress nor diet alone can cause IBD, but both can affect the symptoms. Stress can worsen the symptoms of IBD. Similarly, certain foods seem to aggravate IBD.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health

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