Doctors warned that taking the contraceptive Pill triples the risk of developing an incurable disease of the digestive system
Taking the contraceptive Pill triples the risk of developing an incurable disease of the digestive system, doctors warned last night.
Cases of Crohn’s disease have exploded since the 1960s, and researchers now believe widespread use of the Pill may be one of the main reasons behind the dramatic rise. They have found sex hormones in contraceptive Pills can weaken the gut, creating the perfect conditions for Crohn’s to develop.
The doctors also fear that repeated use of the ‘morning-after pill’ – which contains even higher doses of sex hormones than the daily tablet – might make women still more prone to it.
Crohn’s involves the painful inflammation of the digestive system, most commonly the intestines. This makes digesting food difficult, resulting in diarrhoea, fatigue and anaemia. Flare-ups can be so bad that working is impossible, leading to lengthy periods off work.
Drugs and surgery can help ease symptoms, but there is no cure, and some sufferers find it so intolerable that they commit suicide. At least two Britons with Crohn’s have travelled to Switzerland to end their lives at the controversial Dignitas clinic.
Dr Hamed Khalili, a Harvard gastroenterologist, said Crohn’s cases had risen ‘two or three-fold’ in the past 50 years, since widespread use of the Pill began. It now affects an estimated 100,000 people in Britain – one in every 650 people – although only a fraction of these are officially diagnosed. Changing diets had been touted as a reason for the increase, but Dr Khalili said research into the suspected link had been ‘fairly disappointing’.
However, a study of 230,000 American women led by Dr Khalili found the risk was three times higher in women who had used the Pill for five years or more than those who had never been on it. A British study came to a similar conclusion.
Exactly why the Pill – taken by around 3.5 million women in Britain, a third of those of childbearing age – seems to raise the risk of Crohn’s remains unclear.
But Dr Khalili said changing a woman’s natural sex hormone levels appeared to do three things that could put them at greater risk: it made the gut lining more permeable, reduced levels of ‘friendly’ bacteria in the intestines and affected the immune system.
He added he would expect the morning-after pill to increase the risk further, because it contained higher levels of hormones but said there was no hard data yet to back up that hypothesis.
Overall, adult women are only a little more likely to have Crohn’s than adult men. But twice as many women as men suffer from one of the main forms of Crohn’s, where the colon is affected.
Dr Khalili, who practises at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, stressed a woman was unlikely to get Crohn’s simply by using the Pill, and that genetics played a large role. He said: ‘What’s very clear is that Crohn’s is not caused by oral contraceptive use by itself. It’s a combination of oral contraceptive use among individuals with a strong genetic predisposition to Crohn’s.
‘It’s an interaction between these two that significantly increases the risk of an individual developing it.’
Cases of Crohn’s disease have exploded since the 1960s, and researchers now believe widespread use of the Pill may be one of the main reasons behind the dramatic rise
It was ‘not far-fetched’ to imagine that women will soon be warned not to go on the Pill if they carry certain high-risk genes, he said.
Dr Khalili and his colleagues are now looking at this in a study of 1,500 women, a third of whom have Crohn’s.
Dr Simon Anderson, a consultant gastroenterologist at London Bridge hospital, said the Pill appeared to act as a ‘trigger’ to developing Crohn’s. He cautioned: ‘If you have a family history of Crohn’s, I would advise against starting on the Pill.’
But he said those without such a family history should not be unduly concerned. ‘You are tripling the risk, but from a low base,’ he explained. ‘Crohn’s is not a particularly common disease.’
A LIFE-LONG CONDITION WITH NO CURE: CROHN'S DISEASE
Crohn's disease is a painful condition that causes inflammation of the digestive system.
Around one in 10,000 people are diagnosed every year with 115,000 current sufferers in the UK.
Crohn's disease is one of the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).The other common form of IBD is Ulcerative Colitis.
It is described as chronic, meaning it is a life-long condition, and can cause redness, swelling and pain.
Sufferers will have periods of good health, remission, as well as times when their symptoms flare up or relapse.
There is currently no cure for the disease, but drugs and surgery can give patients long periods of relief from their symptoms.
Last year a bikini selfie of Crohn's disease sufferer and aspiring model Bethany Townsend, pictured with two of her colostomy bags visible went viral
The cause of Crohn's disease is not well understood. Experts believe the condition is, in part, inherited, while an abnormal reaction of the immune system to certain bacteria in the intestines is thought to contribute.
Viruses, bacteria, diet, smoking and stress have all been suggested as environmental triggers, but there is no definitive evidence that any one of these is a cause of Crohn's.
Crohn's causes ulcers to form in the gut and inflammation that affects the body's ability to digest food, absorb nutrients and eliminate waste in a healthy way.
Symptoms include:
- Abdominal pain and diarrhoea
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Feeling generally unwell
- Mouth ulcers
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Anaemia - a reduced level of red blood cells
The disease can cause complications including perforations. They happen when a severe blockage ruptures the bowel, making a hole. The contents of the bowel can leak through and form an abscess. It causes pain and a fever
Junk food and antibiotics are have also been blamed by doctors for the rise in the number of young people developing a serious digestive disorder.
Crohn's has a number of high-profile sufferers including Towie's Sam Faiers who was rushed to hospital in 2013 while she was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother suffering 'agonising cramps'. Shortly after the show she was diagnosed with the disease.
Last year a bikini selfie of Crohn's disease sufferer and aspiring model Bethany Townsend, pictured with two of her colostomy bags visible went viral. The picture was part of a larger movement among those living with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis to put real faces on their illnesses and raise awareness
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