Longitudinal trajectories of anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder in inflammatory bowel disease: a population-based cohort studyResearch in context

Summary: Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with psychiatric diseases, but it is unclear to what degree patients with IBD are affected over their lifetime. We aimed to longitudinally investigate the risk of anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder before and after IBD diagnosis to understand the full burden of these diseases in patients with IBD. Methods: In this population based cohort study, we identified 22,103 patients diagnosed with IBD between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2013 in the Danish National registers and 110,515 matched reference individuals from the general population. We calculated yearly prevalence of hospital contacts for anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder and dispensed prescriptions for antidepressants from five years before to ten years after IBD diagnosis. We used logistic regression to calculate prevalence odds ratios (OR) for each outcome prior to IBD diagnosis, and Cox regression to calculate hazard ratios (HR) of new outcomes after IBD diagnosis. Findings: During >150,000 person years follow-up, patients with IBD had higher risk of anxiety (OR 1.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2–1.7) and depression (OR 1.4; 95% CI 1.3–1.6) starting at least five years before and continuing until at least ten years after IBD diagnosis (HR 1.3; 95% CI 1.1–1.5 for anxiety and HR 1.5; 95% CI 1.4–1.7 for depression). The risk was particularly high around IBD diagnosis and in patients diagnosed with IBD after the age of 40 years. We found no association between IBD and bipolar disorder. Interpretation: This population-based study suggests that anxiety and depression are clinically significant comorbidities of IBD both before and after IBD diagnosis, which warrant thorough evaluation and management, particularly around the time of IBD diagnosis. Funding: The Danish National Research Foundation [DNRF148], the Lundbeck Foundation [R313-2019-857], and Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond [9688-3374 TJS]

Gamma-glutamyltransferase, arterial remodeling and prehypertension in a healthy population at low cardiometabolic risk

International audiencePlasma gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was suggested to reflect the level of systemic oxidative stress. Oxidative stress induces changes in arterial structure and function and contributes to the development of hypertension. Therefore, GGT may be associated with arterial remodeling and blood pressure (BP) increment, even in absence of disease. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated, in 825 healthy subjects at low cardiometabolic risk, the associations of plasma GGT with carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), luminal diameter and prehypertension; in 154 subjects was evaluated also the association with aortic stiffness (cfPWV). Associations were controlled for insulin sensitivity, C-reactive protein, and life-style habits. In the main population, BP was remeasured after 3 years. Carotid diameter and cfPWV, but not IMT, were directly and independently related to plasma GGT. Subjects with prehypertension (N = 330) had higher GGT as compared with subjects with normal BP (22 [14] vs 17 [11] IU/L; adjusted P = 0.001), and within prehypertensive subjects, those who developed hypertension during 3 years had higher GGT than those without incident hypertension (27 [16] vs 21 [14] IU/L; adjusted P < 0.05). Within subjects with arterial stiffness measurement, those with prehypertension (N = 79) had higher both GGT and arterial stiffness (25 [14] vs 16 [20] IU/L and 9.11 ± 1.24 vs 7.90 ± 0.94 m/s; adjusted P < 0.01 and <0.05). In the view of previous evidence linking plasma GGT concentration to the level of systemic oxidative stress, our findings suggest a role of oxidative stress in subclinical arterial damage and in prehypertension, even in healthy subjects free of cardiometabolic risk. Arterial organ damage may represent the link between GGT and hypertension