Karolinska Institute study links family cancer history to IBD risk

A study conducted by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has confirmed that a family history of colorectal cancer (CRC) is a reliable risk marker for individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Research published in the journal ‘Gastroenterology’ indicates that having a first-degree relative—such as a parent, sibling, or child—with colorectal cancer nearly doubles the risk of developing the disease for those with IBD.

The study analyzed 124,387 individuals with IBD in Sweden between 1996 and 2023, comparing them against a general population group of over 1.2 million people over a median follow-up period of eleven years. These findings may assist in implementing more effective screening and surveillance strategies for high-risk populations, addressing current imprecisions in cancer risk assessment for IBD patients.