Bowel Disease, Nerve Problems Linked

Crohn's, colitis sufferers at high risk for carpal tunnel, other woes, study finds.

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
Monday, April 23, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

MONDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are at especially high risk for carpal tunnel syndrome and other nerve ailments, a new study finds.

"We found that those with inflammatory bowel disease were more than six times more likely to also have a disorder called sensorimotor polyneuropathy, a nerve disease that can cause weakness, pain, and numbness," said Dr. Francisco De Assis Gondim, professor of neurology at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil.

"Those with bowel disease were also four times more likely to develop symptoms in the spectrum of a nerve disease called small fiber neuropathy, which causes pain and lack of feeling in the feet," he added. People with IBD were also four times as likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome compared to individuals without the bowel ailment.

All of these conditions were "more common in women with bowel disease than in men," Gondim added.

The findings were expected to be presented at this week's annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in Boston.

IBD affects more than 600,000 Americans, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. The name applies to a group of disorders, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, in which the intestines are inflamed. Symptoms can include abdominal cramps and pain, weight loss, diarrhea and bleeding from the intestine.

In the study, the researchers compared 103 people with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis to 51 people with other digestive disorders, including chronic heartburn, gastritis and irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome affects mainly the large intestine and causes constipation, diarrhea, or both at different times.

Gondim's team gave everyone a standard neurological evaluation, including testing for nerve problems.

They discovered that people with IBD were much more likely to develop a variety of nerve conditions compared to people in other groups.