People over 40 who take antibiotics are about 50 times more likely to develop IBD

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A study found that over 40s who take antibiotics are nearly 50% more likely to develop Crohn’s disease or colitis.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes chronic inflammatory conditions affecting different parts of the intestine, with more than half a million people in the UK suffering from it.

Data from more than six million people in Denmark that were followed for more than a decade found that taking antibiotics was associated with an increased risk of an individual developing IBD.

The effect was seen in all age groups but was most pronounced in the over 40s.

The data shows that if a person between the ages of 40 and 60 has taken antibiotics in the past five years, they are 48 percent more likely to develop an IBD. For those over 60, the rate is 47 percent.

But the scientists also found that the effect is cumulative. A 40-year-old who took one course of antibiotics has a 27 percent increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease or colitis, for example, but that increases by about 15 percent for each subsequent dose.

Researchers from New York University and Aalborg University in Denmark found that a 40-year-old who has been prescribed antibiotics five or more times is more likely to develop IBD than someone who has never had one.

The diagnosis is most likely after a year or two of taking antibiotics

Nine out of 10 people in the study were prescribed antibiotics, and the team recorded more than 36,000 cases of colitis and nearly 17,000 new cases of Crohn’s disease.

The team also found that a person is most likely to be diagnosed with IBD one to two years after they are prescribed antibiotics, and that Bacterial Bowel Infection Tablets are most likely to diagnose IBD.

“In our study, we see that antibiotic use was associated with an increased risk of IBD in elderly people compared to younger individuals,” the study authors write in their paper published in the journal Gut.

We also noted an increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease 4-5 years after exposure.

“This may be a result of ongoing changes in the microbial environment as a result of antibiotic use, which ultimately contribute to the development of IBD.”

Recent research by the University of Nottingham and Crohn’s and Colitis UK found that 0.81 per cent of Britons, or an estimated 540,000 patients, have Crohn’s disease or colitis.

However, the prevalence increases with age. One in every 100 people ages 40 to 49 has some form of IBD, and the percentage rises to 1.34 percent for people ages 60 to 69.

Increased risk ‘could be related to changes in gut bacteria’

Dr Laila Tata, co-author of this yet-to-be-published study, told The Telegraph that the diagnosis rate in the UK is still increasing and that the increased risk of IBD after antibiotics “could be related to changes in gut flora”.

“Crohn’s disease tends to peak when people are in their early 20s and then decrease a bit before stabilizing,” she said.

“Ulcerative colitis increases a little later in the late 20s and early 30s and is diagnosed a little more often later in life.”

IBD is partially controlled by genetics, but lifestyle and environmental factors such as diet and smoking can also alter a person’s individual risk.

There are certainly differences in genetic susceptibility. Dr Tata added that they are being increasingly diagnosed in line with urbanization and westernization indicating that these factors slightly increase the rate of diagnosis.

“However, there are also a lot of undiagnosed people who have the condition who may live with it without being diagnosed.”

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