‘Make it a priority’: #YourDigestiveHealth campaign spotlights key role in quality of life
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To celebrate World Digestive Health Day on May 29, the World Gastroenterology Organization launched a campaign, “Your Digestive Health: Make It A Priority,” to boost awareness on the vital role the digestive system plays in overall health.
The public advocacy campaign focuses on the importance of prioritizing digestive health to maintain quality of life and overall wellbeing and, by doing so, prevent the risk of gastrointestinal disorders and related complications. The campaign promotes the need for a well-balanced diet combined with supportive lifestyle choices to maintain digestive wellness as well as mental and physical health and stresses the importance of early detection and intervention for certain digestive diseases.
The organization invites providers and patients to share and post original photographs and videos of World Digestive Health Day 2024 celebrations and include the hashtags #WDHD2024 and #YourDigestiveHealth.
To support this campaign and honor World Digestive Health Day, Healio recaps the latest meeting news coverage from Digestive Disease Week concerning gut health and various digestive diseases.
‘No convincing evidence’ linking adult oral antibiotic use, early-onset colorectal cancer
WASHINGTON — Oral antibiotic use among adult patients was not associated with increased risk for early-onset colorectal cancer, according to data presented at Digestive Disease Week.
“The incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer is increasing over the past 3 decades; however, little is known about what may be driving this increase in early-onset CRC,” Jeffrey K. Lee, MD, MPH, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Northern California division of research, told Healio. “Greater understanding of the gut microbiome’s role in protecting against gastrointestinal disease development has led to the question of whether antibiotic use — which has increased over the past few decades and is known to perturb the gut microbiome leading to dysregulation of host-microbial interactions — may play a role in promoting early colorectal carcinogenesis.” Read more.
GLP-1RA use in MAFLD, obesity lowers mortality, ‘provides cardiovascular benefits’
WASHINGTON — Patients with obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease taking glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists had lower risk for all-cause mortality and major cardiovascular events, according to a presenter.
“As a future gastroenterologist and current physician advocating for patients with obesity, my research team and I found a critical need to explore the impact of these revolutionary medications in a patient population with only one drug that was just recently FDA-approved,” Luis Miguel Nieto, MD, from West Virginia University School of Medicine, told Healio. “The concerning growth of obesity and MAFLD in the U.S. prompted us to investigate the proven cardiovascular benefit that has been found in diabetic patients when using these medications.” Read more.
‘Promising’ low-calorie, plant-based diet may improve inflammation, therapy response in UC
WASHINGTON — “Even at short intervals,” an intermittent low-calorie, plant-based diet may improve inflammation and response to medical therapy among patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, according to a presenter.
“Diet plays a role in IBD inflammation but there are very few clinical trials that examine the impact of diet on UC and, to my knowledge, none that examine the effect of diet in active UC,” Oriana M. Damas, MD, MSCTI, associate professor of medicine and director of translational studies for the Crohn’s and Colitis Center at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, told Healio. “Additionally, we were inspired to examine whether intervals of a 5-day diet could help disease inflammation, as patients and humans in general are more likely to follow a specific diet for a short period of time.” Read more.
VIDEO: Women, Black patients underrepresented in US-based clinical trials for LT
WASHINGTON — In a Healio video exclusive, Saqr Alsakarneh, MD, MSc, describes “significant disparities” in race, ethnicity and sex among participants enrolled clinical trials for liver transplantation in the U.S.
“Liver transplantation is a critical intervention for patients with end-stage liver disease and it offers them actually a new lease on life,” Alsakarneh, a second-year internal medicine resident at University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, told Healio. “However, given the importance of this intervention, there has been a lack of clarity surrounding inclusion of some demographic groups and minorities in these clinical trials in the United States.” Read more.
‘Durable’ weight loss: Endoscopic gastric remodeling surgery effective in managing obesity
WASHINGTON — The Primary Obesity Surgery Endoluminal 2.0 procedure is a “safe, effective and durable option” for weight loss and improvement in obesity-related conditions, according to a presenter.
“Current treatment options for obesity have limitations in efficacy, cost, durability and invasiveness,” Barham K. Abu Dayyeh, MD, MPH, director of advanced endoscopy and professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, told Healio. “The POSE2.0 procedure represents a novel approach designed to overcome some of these challenges by creating durable, full-thickness plications in the stomach through an incisionless approach, without removing any parts of the stomach.” Read more.
‘Sustained improvement’ in markers of liver injury, pruritis with seladelpar in PBC
WASHINGTON — Seladelpar use led to “rapid, marked and sustained improvement” in markers of cholestasis and liver injury among patients with primary biliary cholangitis, according to interim results of the ongoing, phase 3 ASSURE study.
“The study was initiated because there is currently a major unmet need for patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and insufficient response to the first-line therapy, ursodeoxycholic acid,” Cynthia Levy, MD, professor of medicine at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, told Healio. “These patients are at risk for progression to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease.” Read more.
Oral microbiome ‘has the potential’ to be a noninvasive biomarker for gastric cancer
Oral samples taken from patients with gastric cancer and premalignant gastric conditions exhibited “stark differences” in bacterial composition compared with controls, suggesting that oral bacteria could serve as a biomarker.
“In the United States, there are no formal screening guidelines for gastric cancer and more than half of patients with gastric cancer did not receive a diagnosis until their cancer is already at an advanced stage,” Shruthi Reddy Perati, MD, a general surgery resident at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said during the Digestive Disease Week media briefing. “As a result, far too many patients are being diagnosed too late.” Read more.
Prompt identification of new-onset diabetes may aid early detection of pancreatic cancer
WASHINGTON — An algorithm that uses electronic health record parameters identified glycemic evidence of new-onset diabetes in real time, which could lead to earlier detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, according to researchers.
“In retrospective studies, new-onset diabetes has been associated with a higher risk for pancreatic cancer,” Suresh T. Chari, MD, professor in the department of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told Healio. “But maximum risk — approximately 85% over 3 years — is seen when diabetes is identified by abnormal lab values rather than physician diagnosis. Read more.
SEQUENCE: Skyrizi outperforms for Crohn’s remission; Stelara ‘still remains on the table’
WASHINGTON — Although a greater number of patients with Crohn’s disease who failed anti-TNF therapy achieved biologic remission with Skyrizi vs. Stelara, choosing between the two therapies “still remains on the table,” a researcher noted.
Skyrizi (risankizumab, AbbVie) previously demonstrated noninferiority for clinical remission at week 24, and superior endoscopic remission at week 48 compared with Stelara (ustekinumab, Janssen), as reported in the phase 3b SEQUENCE trial presented at UEG Week 2023. However, questions remained regarding the achievement of clinical remission and reduction in inflammatory biomarkers between the two drugs. Read more.
References:
- World Digestive Health Day: WDHD 2024 https://wdhd.worldgastroenterology.org/ongoing-wdhd-campaigns/wdhd-2024. Accessed April 26, 2024.
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