Childhood physical, sexual abuse linked to ulcerative colitis

Tough to deny the brain?gut connection.

A sad but interesting article:
/www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150806160921.htm

"We found that one-quarter of adults with ulcerative colitis reported they had been physically abused during their childhood, compared to one in 10 of those without inflammatory bowel disease," said the study's lead author, Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, who holds the Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair at University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. "Similarly, the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among those with ulcerative colitis was one in five versus one in 17 among those without the disease."

Investigators examined a representative sample of 21,852 community-dwelling Canadians aged 18 and over from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey -- Mental Health.

I thought of that after I posted it, quincy. I don't know anything about these health surveys but maybe someone who is more likely to admit to physical/sexual abuse is also more likely to admit to having ulcerative colitis. Both are taboo subjects.

Randomly, I was watching 60 minutes last night, and Oprah did a piece on ACE scores (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and how they translate into health outcomes and likelihood of victimization as an adult. Anyway, lots of studies have shown that children who experience trauma -- violence, sexual assault, an incarcerated parent, etc. -- have worse health outcomes as adults (For a variety of reasons). Sexual assault doesn't lead to UC, but sexual assault can certainly put someone on a path that eventually makes them at risk for a lot of negative health consequences that may eventually lead to UC.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/index.html

Beat UC, your pulling one sentence out of context, then feigning outrage over it and saying this somehow leads to a lack of research funding is a bit more of a stretch than the original statement don't you think?

I don't live in Fantasyland, just somewhere that people tend not to talk about their bowel habits or their childhood abuses as a part of normal conversation. I'm not saying that people SHOULDN'T talk about UC, just that they tend not to.

From the article:

"...we found no association between either type of abuse and Crohn's disease"

Seems very odd indeed.

Conner....Still separate issues....not connected or related as per the "study".
q

Interesting stuff. I agree the study doesn't directly correlate, but I think it presents a reason for more study into stress response and autoimmune disease.