The younger an immigrant is when he or she arrives in Canada, the higher their risk of developing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis according to new research.
The study found that the children of immigrants from some areas of the world have a 14% increased risk of developing IBD per decade spent in Canada adding more evidence that the environment plays an important role in the development of the disease.
Canada has some of the highest rates of inflammatory bowel disease in the world with 240,000 Canadians affected. Ontario has a very high rate of inflammatory bowel disease (1/160 people), and the fastest growing group of new diagnoses are children under 10-years-old.
Original research paper published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology on March 10, 2015.
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