Impaired sleep ups risk of relapse in Crohn's disease

(HealthDay)—For patients with Crohn's disease (CD), but not ulcerative colitis, sleep impairment is associated with increased risk of relapse, according to a study published in the August issue Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

In an effort to examine the role of sleep disturbance on the risk of relapse, Ashwin N. Ananthakrishnan, M.D., M.P.H., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from 3,173 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; 1,798 in clinical remission at baseline) participating in a longitudinal, Internet-based cohort.

The researchers found that correlates of sleep disturbance at enrollment included disease activity, depression, female gender, smoking, and use of corticosteroids or narcotics. Of the 1,291 patients whose CD was in remission at baseline, the risk of active disease at six months was increased two-fold for those with impaired sleep (adjusted odds ratio, 2.00). This association was not seen for patients with ulcerative colitis. The results were consistent in different sensitivity analyses.

"In conclusion, we identified sleep impairment during remission to be a risk factor for disease flares in CD in a large IBD cohort," the authors write. "There is a need for further research on the potential benefits of routine assessment of sleep quality as well as intervention-based studies to improve sleep quality in patients with CD, which ultimately may impact patient outcomes."