Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders At Risk for IBD

Patients should be closely monitored by proper diagnostic methods.

Incidences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have grown in patients also suffering from autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a neurocognitive disorder characterized by an impaired ability to communicate and interact.

In a recently published paper in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases researchers suggested ADS could also be a risk factor for IBD development.

For their study, the researchers analyzed IBD rates among patients both with and without ASD between 2009 and 2013. The team used four different study populations: Aetna database, Boston Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and the North American ASD registry — Simons Simplex Consortium.

The IBD rates — establish through International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification – were compared with respective controls.

After additional analyses comparing data verified by nationally reported pediatric IBD rates, the results suggested there was, in fact, a significant increase in IBD rate among patients suffering from ASD. Experts advise these patients to be further monitored by proper diagnostic methods.