研究发现，患有炎症性肠病的人患痴呆的风险更高

研究发现，患有炎症性肠病的人患痴呆的风险更高

If you have inflammatory bowel disease, you may be at greater risk for developing dementia, a new study suggests.

一项新的研究表明，如果你患有炎症性肠病，那么你患痴呆症的风险可能会更高。

Inflammatory bowel disease, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects more than 3 million US adults and millions more around the world. It intermittently triggers stomach pain, diarrhea and bloody stools.

炎症性肠病，包括溃疡性结肠炎和克罗恩病，是一种慢性炎症，影响着300多万美国成年人和世界各地数百万人。它会间歇性地引发胃痛、腹泻和血便。

Researchers have found evidence of a connection between our gut and the brain in prior studies. Now it appears that gut imbalances associated with IBD may impact cognitive decline, the study found.

在之前的研究中，研究人员已经发现了肠道和大脑之间存在联系的证据。现在研究发现，与IBD(炎症性肠病)相关的肠道失衡可能会影响认知能力下降。

According to the researchers, their study was the first to explore IBD as a factor for dementia.

据研究人员称，他们的研究是首次将IBD作为痴呆的一个因素。

"It's been quite a few years that we've known IBD is associated with depression and anxiety," said Dr. Bing Zhang, a fellow in the gastroenterology division of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and coauthor of the new study that published Tuesday in the journal Gut.

“我们知道IBD与抑郁和焦虑的关系已经有好几年了，”张冰博士说，他是加州大学旧金山分校医学部消化科的研究员，也是这项新研究的合著者之一，他于周二发表在《肠道》杂志上。

"In fact, we knew 30% of people with IBD would develop these," Zhang said.

“事实上，我们知道30%的IBD患者会发展成这样，”张说。

"However, it wasn't until recently that we started looking at more neurocognitive changes and neurocognitive decline."

“然而，直到最近，我们才开始研究更多的神经认知变化和神经认知能力下降。”

A longitudinal study

一个纵向研究

Our gut bacteria, or microbiome, is composed of bacteria, viruses and microbes that are tiny but actually quite mighty — they appear to aid our metabolic functions, help protect us from pathogens and manage our immune systems.

我们的肠道细菌，或称微生物群，是由细菌、病毒和微生物组成的，它们很小，但实际上非常强大——它们似乎有助于我们的新陈代谢功能，帮助我们免受病原体的伤害，并管理我们的免疫系统。

The study analyzed 1,742 patients with IBD who were 45 or older, culled from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database, and compared them to more than 17,400 people without the disease.

该研究从台湾国民健康保险研究数据库中挑选出1,742名45岁及以上的IBD患者，并将他们与17,400多名非IBD患者进行比较。

They were tracked for up to 16 years to examine the relationship between dementia and IBD. The study was observational and didn't establish cause and effect. It also didn't look at lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise.

他们被追踪了16年，以研究痴呆症和IBD之间的关系。这项研究是观察性的，没有确定因果关系。研究也没有考虑饮食和锻炼等生活方式因素。

Participants with IBD had a 4.1% higher incidence of dementia, and were diagnosed more than seven years earlier than those patients without IBD. The overall incidence of dementia was 5.5% among IBD patients compared to 1.4% among those who didn't have IBD.

患有IBD的患者患痴呆症的几率要高出4.1%，并且比那些没有IBD的患者早七年确诊。IBD患者的痴呆总发病率为5.5%，而非IBD患者为1.4%。

Individuals with IBD were at greatest risk for two types of dementia: Alzheimer's dementia, which is caused by damage and death to nerve cells and affects memory, thinking and behavior; and vascular dementia, which stems from conditions that block or reduce blood flow to the brain.

IBD患者患两种痴呆症的风险最大:一种是阿尔茨海默氏痴呆，由神经细胞损伤和死亡引起，影响记忆、思维和行为，以及血管性痴呆，这是由于阻塞或减少流向大脑的血液。

The study found the association between IBD and dementia was the same for men and women. There was no difference in risk between those with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, but there was an increased risk for dementia as the severity and duration of IBD rose.

研究发现IBD和痴呆症之间的联系对男性和女性是一样的。溃疡性结肠炎和克罗恩病的风险没有区别，但是随着IBD的严重程度和持续时间的增加，痴呆的风险增加。