Have you noticed that more and more Canadians now a days know what Crohn’s Disease is and how it effects its sufferers? There could be a big reason for that. Canada has been paired with Europe for having more cases of IBD than any other countries looked at in a global study done by an Alberta researcher.
Kaplan, who cares for patients with IBD, admits he sometimes feels at a loss.
It is a difficult disease to treat, he says. “We treat it patient by patient. There needs to be a lot more research.” University of Calgary’s Gilaad G. Kaplan conducted the study to map IBD georaphically hoping to find a reason for the disease being more prevalent in developed countries a posed to industrialized nations.
According to Kaplan’s study, 0.5% of Canadians are inflicted with a form of IBD.
Talking with a fellow C.A.P member, we both agreed that there is a significant raise in IBD cases over only the last 5-10 years. ” I never knew anybody with it, recently my uncle was diagnosed with colitis and my friends ex-wife had it too, a girl who I met in the park with Liam the other day has it…its ridiculous now how common it’s becoming when you think with the amount of research that goes into it, clearly they aren’t doing enough, when it is AS common as cancer maybe then they will take it more seriously,” proclaimed Rosee Gidvani after reading the paper.
Something needs to be done. I agree with Rosee that we need more research but also we need to start focusing on new areas of treatment. To focus more on getting better information out there to newly diagnosed patients. This isn’t a problem that can be swept under the rug. It has a potential to cripple government health budgets with cases of IBD raising over the developed countries at new staggering rates. With countries like China & India suddenly having a growing rate in new cases, we need to focus on the differences between developed countries & those of their industrialized counter-parts.
There are theories circulating around developed societies becoming more sterile over time causing new children to be born with weakened immune systems. Other theories state that the ‘Western’ diet is at the core of the problem.
Another theory considered by researchers focuses on vitamin D deviancy due to the lack of sun in countries like Canada & Scandinavia.
What does this tell us? I look at the paper and think maybe a side route in our research of IBD should be taken into how cultural differences equate to fewer or more numerous counts of IBD.
What are your thoughts? Tell us below in the comments.
Original Article from: http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/1111139–canada-tops-list-of-countries-for-inflammatory-bowel-disease?bn=1