Study: Bowel, Nerve Diseases Linked

People with inflammatory bowel disease — such as Crohn’s disease — may be at greater risk of nerve damage, U.S. researchers said Monday.

Inflammatory bowel disease patients commonly suffer from several other medical conditions, said Francisco De Assis Gondim, professor of medicine at the Federal University in Ceara, Brazil, at the 59th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston.

He found that diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are more likely to cause nerve damage — with resulting pain and numbness in the legs — than other gastrointestinal disorders such as gastritis, chronic heartburn or irritable bowel syndrome.

In fact, the 103 study subjects with inflammatory disease were four times as likely to develop conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and neuropathy — pain and numbness in the feet — when compared to 51 patients with the other digestive diseases.

Those with inflammatory disease were also six times more likely to have sensorimotor polyneuropathy, a nerve disease that causes weakness, pain and numbness.

People with inflammatory bowel disease who develop new symptoms, such as pain or numbness in the feet, should see a doctor, De Assis Gondim suggested. These nerve conditions that we have reported are often not diagnosed by the primary care physician.