Colitis-Aid.com

While chronic inflammation is a known risk factor for atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and heart disease, researchers have now shown that the sporadic but recurrent inflammation caused by Crohn’s disease also poses serious cardiovascular risk.

Sander van Leuven and his colleagues imaged 60 Crohn’s patients and 122 healthy controls for signs of arterial hardening; they found that the thickness of the carotid artery, a common marker for plaque buildup, was increased in Crohn’s disease.

They next examined the subjects’ HDL (high density lipoprotein, the “good” cholesterol) content. HDL helps prevent arterial hardening by shuttling cholesterol from blood vessels back to the liver as well as exerting anti-oxidant properties, and is often impaired during inflammation. They discovered that patients with active Crohn’s had profoundly reduced HDL levels compared to controls or Crohn’s patients in remission.

Interestingly, both active Crohn’s patients and those in remission had HDL with lower antioxidant potential than healthy individuals, revealing that acute inflammation episodes not only reduce total HDL, but alter the molecules biochemically, likely slowing down the recovery process during remission.

The researchers note their findings highlight the cardiovascular risks facing Crohn’s patients, even those who successfully manage their outbreaks, and suggest that early detection and prevention measures are critical.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Standard Medical Treatments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.