What is an inflammatory bowel disease? and what causes it?

Posted By Suborna Fermi Posted on Dec 01, 2023

Inflammatory bowel disease refers to a group of intestinal disorders that cause chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common types of inflammatory bowel diseases. Symptoms can include stomach aches, gas, and diarrhea. Read on to find out more about inflammatory bowel disease.

What is an inflammatory bowel disease?

Inflammatory bowel disease causes long-term pain and swelling in the intestine. This condition mostly affects people between the ages of 15 and 30. Treatments can help manage this lifelong condition.

What are the types of inflammatory bowel diseases?

The most common types of inflammatory bowel disease include:

• Ulcerative colitis: This bowel disease causes swelling and ulcers in the large intestine or colon. There are also several types of ulcerative colitis, depending on their location and severity.
• Crohn’s disease: This condition can cause swelling in any part of the digestive tract between the mouth and anus. However, it commonly affects the small intestine or the upper part of the large intestine. According to many studies, this condition occurs between the ages of 20 and 29.

Is there any difference between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?

The main difference between these is that inflammatory bowel disease is a disorder and IBS is a syndrome that causes a range of symptoms. The symptoms and treatment are also different from each other.

Inflammatory bowel syndrome, also known as nervous stomach, is a functional gastrointestinal disease that affects bowel function. This syndrome does not cause swelling or damage to the intestine like IBD. This is why imaging scans are not helpful in diagnosing IBS. However, IBS does not increase the risk of colon cancer, and people with the disorder rarely need hospitalization.

What causes inflammatory bowel disease?

According to several studies, inflammatory bowel disease may occur due to many factors, including genetics. It may also occur if the immune system responds to bacteria and viruses irregularly, which triggers an inflammatory reaction in the gut.

However, there is no single cause of inflammatory bowel disease. Researchers believe there are multiple risk factors that increase one's risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease. The potential causes include:

• Genetics: According to a study from 2016, scientists have noted that people who have a family history of IBD are more likely to develop the condition later in life.
• The immune system: Your immune system also plays a role in developing IBD. The main function of our immune system is to fight off foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. A bacterial infection in the digestive tract can trigger an immune response. As a result of an immune response, the digestive tract becomes inflamed, which will go away on its own. However, an autoimmune response can also cause swelling in the digestive tract that can last for more than a year.
• Environmental factors: A study from 2019 suggests that people who live in urban or industrial areas. People from urban areas tend to eat more processed or fast foods. Researchers have also found that people who have a sedentary lifestyle are more likely to develop IBD.
• Age and smoking: Although IBD can occur at any age, it is more likely to develop between the ages of 15 and 30. Smoking is considered one of the main risk factors for Crohn’s disease. This can also worsen the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.

To diagnose an IBD condition, your doctor will perform a physical examination and ask you about your family medical history. Diagnostic tests are also required for the IBD diagnosis. For any diagnostic test, you can choose Thyrocare because Thyrocare packages are reasonable and they also offer free home sample collection.