The number of young people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has more than doubled, a study revealed.
A doctor at Southampton Children’s Hospital said the increase should be a 'wake-up call'.
In 2023, the hospital diagnosed 113 new paediatric patients with more than 460 patients receiving ongoing care in that year.
This is an increase from the 50 new patients and 250 with ongoing care in 2013.
'No single trigger'
Dr James Ashton, consultant paediatric gastroenterologist at SCH, said processed foods are 'playing a part' in the problem.
The increase is revealed in new research, published in the journal Oxford Academic, one of the biggest paediatric IBD studies performed in the UK.
It said that all sites included in the research had seen a sustained increase since 2013, with the rate of IBD in children doubling in most areas.
Although the study showed a sharp increase in the rate of diagnosis, it does not show why diagnosis in the disease has increased.
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Dr Ashton said: “It’s complicated to say why we’ve seen the increase as the disease is very specific to each individual, with everybody having an underlying genetic risk.
“However, genetics don’t change over 10 years, so the next obvious factor would be societal environmental and lifestyle changes.
“We have seen a shift in our diets with an increase in the consumption of processed foods and, although we don’t know if this is the predominant cause, it would certainly appear to play a part.
“It is important to state that there is no single trigger for the disease and having IBD is not the result of doing something wrong, we’re talking about contributing factors on a societal level here.”
'Unbearable' pain
IBD is a term that describes several disorders involving chronic inflammation of tissues in the digestive tract, with the most common being Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Imogen Knight, 14, was diagnosed with IBD at Southampton last year.
Imogen, from Basingstoke, said her pain became “unbearable” and she was admitted to hospital after losing almost three stone.
In March 2024 she underwent surgery involves the removal of her large bowel.
The procedure has left Imogen having to use a colostomy bag for the rest of her life.
Dr Ashton hopes that the study will help understand the causes of the disease and to recognise the challenges healthcare providers meet, to care for these patients as well as possible and to ensure IBD services are resourced adequately.
He said: “Our ongoing research has a real focus on using genetics to understand why an individual has IBD and from this we hope to be able to tailor a personalised medicine plan.
“In the future we hope this will lead to all round better patient outcomes.”
'Concerning increase'
Mariane Radcliffe, CEO of Crohn’s & Colitis UK, described the increase as concerning.
She said: "While we don’t know the specific cause of the increase, what we do know for sure is that the sooner anyone with Crohn’s or Colitis gets a diagnosis and starts treatment, the better.
"IBD teams like Dr Ashton’s at Southampton Children’s Hospital play a vital part in that care.
"Young people face all sorts of challenges, and finding out that you have a chronic condition when you’re just starting out in life is a lot to get used to.
"It can be a difficult journey and everyone experiences Crohn’s and Colitis differently, but you are not alone."
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