The risk of antibiotics and enterocolitis for the development of inflammatory bowel disease: a Japanese administrative database analysis

Previous studies have shown that antibiotic use and enterocolitis increase the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in western countries. However, these risk factors have not yet been identified in Asian populations. This study aimed to investigate the risk of IBD development associated with antibiotic use and enterocolitis in Japan. A Japanese health insurance claims database was used to identify patients recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) along with five matched participants without IBD. Episodes of antibiotic use and enterocolitis for 1 and 2 years before the date of diagnosis were analyzed using a conditional regression test. A total of 371 patients with CD and 2420 with UC were included. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) increased in association with antibiotic use to 1.61 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26–2.05) and 1.20 (95% CI 1.09–1.31) and enterocolitis to 3.40 (95% CI 2.60–4.44) and 2.14 (95% CI 1.88–2.43) in 1 year in CD and UC, respectively. The risk associated with antibiotics was independent of the number or type of antibiotics, and the risk associated with enterocolitis did not differ with the pathogen that caused the disease. However, prior exposure to antibiotic use and enterocolitis was associated with an increased risk of developing IBD.