Association of inflammatory bowel disease and related medication exposure with risk of Alzheimer's disease: An updated meta-analysis

Background: Chronic systemic inflammation may be associated with neurocognitive decline, but the relationships between inflammatory bowel disease and related medications and the risk of Alzheimer's disease remain unclear.

Methods: We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the associations of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and related medications with risk of Alzheimer's disease. We identified cohort and case-control studies by searching PubMed, Embase and Web of Science up to August 2022.

Results: Seven eligible studies with 20,174 cases of Alzheimer's disease were included in the meta-analysis. Six studies reported the association between ulcerative colitis and risk of Alzheimer's disease; five studies reported the association between Crohn's disease and risk of Alzheimer's disease. Meta-analysis combining these studies did not reveal any significant association of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease with risk of Alzheimer's disease. The pooled relative risks were 1.16 (95%CI: 0.96, 1.41) and 1.17 (95%CI: 0.84, 1.62) for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, respectively. High heterogeneity was detected across the studies. Of note, there was an inverse association between inflammatory bowel disease related medication exposure and risk of Alzheimer's disease. The pooled relative risk of three studies for Alzheimer's disease was 0.86 (95%CI: 0.75, 0.99). No publication bias was detected.

Conclusion: This study does not support the association of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease with the risk of Alzheimer's disease. However, medications for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease might be associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease.