Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Inflammatory bowel disease as a new risk factor for dementia

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The prognostic impact of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic inflammatory conditions consisting of ulcerative colitis (UC), and Crohn’s disease (CD) on the risk of dementia has been poorly investigated. We evaluated the risk of dementia in IBD patients by a systematic review and meta-analysis of the available data. Three studies, enrolling 121.827 patients [14.839 IBD (12.1%) and 106.961 (87.7%) controls, respectively] were included in the analysis. Of these, 57.7% (n = 8.571) had UC, while 42.2% (n = 6268) had CD. The mean follow-up period was 21.3 years. A random effect model revealed an aHR of 1.52 (95% CI 1.04–2.020, p = 0.01; I2 = 91.1%) for dementia in IBD patients. Sensitivity analysis confirmed yielded results. Subjects having a CD showed an aHR for dementia of 1.48 (95% CI 1.07–2.03, p = 0.001, I2 = 68.9%), while the risk among those with a history of UC did not reach the statistical significance (aHR: 1.47, 95% CI 0.95–2.82, p = 0.81, I2 = 89.9%). IBD males had an increased risk of dementia compared to women. IBD patients and in particular those with CD have an increased risk of dementia in the long-term period.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  1. Ricci G (2019) Social aspects of dementia prevention from a worldwide to national perspective: a review on the international situation and the example of Italy. Behav Neurol 2019:8720904. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8720904

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Bunn F, Burn AM, Goodman C et al (2014) Comorbidity and dementia: a scoping review of the literature. BMC Med 12:192. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-014-0192-4

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Livingston G, Huntley J, Sommerlad A et al (2020) Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the lancet commission. Lancet 396:413–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30367-6

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J et al (2009) PRISMA group preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med 6:e1000097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Wells GA, Shea B, O’Connell D, et al (2012) The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for assessing the quality if nonrandomized studies in meta-analyses, 2012. http://www.ohrica/programs/clinical_epidemiology/oxfordasp.com. Accessed 12 Sept 2021

  6. Zhang B, Wang HE, Bai YM et al (2021) Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with higher dementia risk: a nationwide longitudinal study. Gut 70:85–91. https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2020-320789

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Bernstein CN, Nugent Z, Shaffer S et al (2021) Comorbidity before and after a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 54:637–651. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16444

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Zingel R, Bohlken J, Kostev K (2021) Association between inflammatory bowel disease and dementia: a retrospective cohort study. J Alzheimers Dis 80:1471–1478. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-210103

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Kinney JW, Bemiller SM, Murtishaw AS et al (2018) Inflammation as a central mechanism in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement (N Y) 4:575–590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2018.06.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kiernan MG, Coffey JC, Sahebally SM et al (2020) Systemic molecular mediators of inflammation differentiate between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, implicating threshold levels of IL-10 and relative ratios of pro-inflammatory cytokines in therapy. J Crohns Colitis 14:118–129. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjz117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Sun Y, Baptista LC, Roberts LM et al (2020) The gut microbiome as a therapeutic target for cognitive impairment. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 75:1242–1250. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glz281

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Wu S, Liu X, Jiang R et al (2021) Roles and mechanisms of gut microbiota in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Front Aging Neurosci 28:650047. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.650047

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

None.

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, 44100, Ferrara, Italy

    Marco Zuin, Roberto De Giorgio, Eleonora Capatti & Giovanni Zuliani

  2. Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Elisa Boschetti

  3. Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria “S. Anna”, Ferrara, Italy

    Marco Zuin, Roberto De Giorgio, Eleonora Capatti & Giovanni Zuliani

Authors
  1. Marco Zuin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Roberto De Giorgio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eleonora Capatti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Elisa Boschetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Giovanni Zuliani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

MZ: conceptualization, writing the draft, literature research, and data analysis. RDG: editing and revision of the manuscript, and data interpretation; EC: literature research and visualization. EB: literature research and data interpretation; GZ: editing and revision of the manuscript, data interpretation, and supervision. All the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Zuin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Authors declare no competing financial, general, and institutional interests.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Informed consent

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zuin, M., De Giorgio, R., Capatti, E. et al. Inflammatory bowel disease as a new risk factor for dementia. Aging Clin Exp Res 34, 1725–1728 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02076-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02076-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation