The following is a summary of “Physical Activity Is Associated With A Decreased Risk Of Developing Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis,” published in the April 2024 issue of Gastroenterology by Tiong et al.
Despite prior studies showing mixed results, modifiable lifestyle factors like physical activity could help prevent Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Researchers conducted a retrospective study analyzing existing data and estimated the association between physical activity and the risk of developing IBD.
They searched pertinent studies published before April 2023, examining the impact of physical activity levels before IBD diagnosis on IBD occurrence. Individual summary statistics RR and CI were extracted to generate forest plots. The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach.
The results showed 10 observational studies, with 1,182 Crohn’s disease (CD) and 2,361 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients in cohort studies, 781 CD and 1,127 UC patients in case-control studies, and 860,992 participants without IBD in the cohort studies. In cohort studies, the RRs of CD in individuals with high physical activity levels were 0.78 (95% CI 0.68-0.88, P=0.0001) and 0.87 (95% CI 0.79-0.95, P=0.003) in case-control studies. For UC, the RRs were 0.62 (95% CI 0.43-0.88, P=0.008) in cohort studies and 0.74 (95% CI 0.51-1.07, P=0.11) in case-control studies.
Investigators concluded that past physical activity offered some protection against developing IBD, particularly CD, compared to UC.
Source: academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjae053/7643393