ANTIDEPRESSANTS CAN ALSO IMPROVE BOWEL DISEASE ACTIVITY OF IBD

A recent study (MS Kristensen et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2019; 25: 886-93) indicates that antidepressants are likely to benefit those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and could lower their disease activity in addition to improving their mood.

The medical records of almost 43,000 Danish patients with ulcerative colitis (UC, 69.5%) or Crohn's disease (CD, 30.5%) were looked at to see if they had:

·        hospitalizations with IBD as primary diagnosis

·        surgery with IBD as primary operation code

·        treatment with steroids or anti-TNF medicines <<link- anti-TNFs>>

Key findings:

·        Those who used antidepressants had lower disease activity than nonusers.

·        Those with Crohn's disease who had never used antidepressants before they got IBD had the best results.

·        28% of those in the study had at least 1 prescription for an antidepressant at some point.  This is similar to a Finnish study, where antidepressants were use in 28% of those with IBD compared to the general population where 19% used these medicines.

·        They did not study side effects or other results from using the antidepressants.

The authors note that antidepressants may affect the level of inflammatory chemicals that affect IBD in addition to improving mood and the brain-gut relationship.Dr. Jay Hochman of Children's Center for Digestive Health Care in Atlanta, originally posted a more detailed analysis of this article on his website, gutsandgrowth.com. This modified from that summary with his permission.