Prospective evaluation of early-life environmental triggers for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PREVENT IBD)

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, debilitating immune-mediated disease with a typical onset in childhood and young adulthood.

After a rising incidence over the past decades, it now affects 0.5% of Western populations, and is an emerging disease globally.

There is ample evidence that the early life environment contributes to IBD, however the nature of such factors is poorly defined, which partly relates to the scarcity of sufficiently powered, prospective data from population-based cohorts.

We will address these challenges by analyzing birth cohort data on some 200,000 children followed since birth (1996-2009) in ABIS (Sweden), DNBC (Denmark) and MoBa (Norway) cohorts until 2019 for the development of IBD, as defined by linked diagnostic register data.

Pooled cohort analyses will consider feeding practices and infectious frequency of early life as risk factors for childhood IBD.

In a nested case-control design with stored cord blood samples, we will test the possible interaction of these exposures with IBD susceptibility genes, as well as test the influence of newborn vitamin D status on disease risk. If successful, knowledge gained from this unique data may be translated into preventive measures against IBD.

Preliminary and previous data from these cohorts confirm that pre-study assumptions are robust. Coordinated from the University of Gothenburg, this study involves researchers from Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Results are expected to be published in 2022-2024.