Mike - Here's Fuel For Your Campaign

[tex]

Have you seen this article yet?

Epidemiology of Microscopic Colitis Subtypes

Microscopic colitis (lymphocytic colitis or collagenous colitis) is a form of IBD that has not been studied epidemiologically in the United States until now. Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project in Minnesota (a medical records linkage system), 131 cases of microscopic colitis were identified over a 17-year period.[15] The mean age at diagnosis was 68 years, and 69% of subjects were women. Lymphocytic colitis, but not collagenous colitis, was found to be much more common among women (5.3:1). Age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates were about twice as high for lymphocytic colitis as for collagenous colitis. Additionally, incidence rates for microscopic colitis have been rising dramatically since 1985 (from 0.8/100,000 in 1985-1989, to 19.1/100,000 in 1998-2001). Such a rapid rise in incidence rates points toward an environmental (ie, infectious) etiology for this chronic disease.

The emphasis in red is mine, of course. This is from:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/480243

Of course, part of the rapid rise in incidence rates may be due to the fact that you can't find MC unless you look for it, and you can't find it unless you know how to find it.

Tex

[mle_ii]

I would venture to guess that the last sentence of yours is the most correct. We have not been looking for it and as you've said in another thread folks with IBS would most likely be found to have some form of MC. Also the very recent study I brought up on children having a different kind of MC and I'm now reading more about children having it makes me think that the statistics for who gets this disease are very scewed and I bet more folks have it than we think. Even more so if it is caused by what I've been thinking some of the causes might be.

[tex]

Agreed. The statistics are what caught my eye. 19.1 cases per 100,000 is roughly twice the previous number that I have seen tossed around, and that statistic is based on data that is now at least six or seven years old. I can't help but wonder what the current statistics might be.

Remember the article that we looked at a year or so ago that reported the results of a study that showed that a fairly high percentage of all patients who have had a colonoscopy with biopsies, (for any reason), show evidence of having had MC at some time in their past? (I'm thinking it was something like 35%, if my memory is not playing tricks on me). Evidently, MC is quite common, but most people get over it, fairly quickly.

It makes me think that those of us who do not get over it, obviously have some other issue that predisposes us to a chronic condition. Maybe it's bacteria, (or SIBO), maybe we're latent celiacs, or maybe it's just due to the fact that we're unlucky enough to have the wrong genes. Or maybe it's all of those things, and a bunch more, and any of them can trigger a chronic event, depending on our individual composition.

Tex