These include vascular intestinal problems, coeliac disease in children, pancreatitis, gastric reflux disease, gastritis, and chronic liver diseases.

The results of a new study on the burden of digestive diseases were presented today at UEG Week 2022. New research shows a worrying trend in the prevalence of a number of digestive diseases since 2000.

Presented today at UEG Week 2022 and published in the United European Gastroenterology Journal, data from a new pan-European study on the burden of digestive diseases1 shows an alarming rise in the incidence of various digestive diseases since 2000.

These include vascular intestinal problems, coeliac disease in children, pancreatitis, gastric reflux disease, gastritis, and chronic liver diseases.

Additionally, between 2000 and 2019, the incidence and mortality rates for all digestive malignancies increased by 26% and 17%, respectively.

More than 300 million individuals in Europe and the Mediterranean region suffer from digestive illnesses, and the related economic implications are huge, according to the paper.

Many digestive disorders have the highest incidence and prevalence among the very young and the elderly, and as the European population ages, this incidence rate will definitely increase.

Age-adjusted rates of liver and pancreatic cancer cases and deaths have gone up in most European countries since 2000. Alcohol use, obesity, and other lifestyle choices have been found to be major contributors to a large part of the overall burden of these digestive disorders.

The rising rate of young adults being diagnosed with colorectal cancer is another cause for alarm.

The study was done by researchers from the University of Liverpool in the UK on behalf of UEG. They found that the number of digestive diseases caused by a high body mass index (BMI) is rising across the continent.

And while some progress has been made since the year 2000 to reduce the amount of disease caused by alcohol, it is still a major cause of disease.

One piece of good news from the study is that thanks to national intervention strategies, the health burden of smoking has gone down in almost all European countries.

The report’s key finding is that population-level social and economic differences between nations account for a large portion of the variations in the burden of digestive diseases, with more underdeveloped nations—as determined by the Human Development Index—experiencing a greater burden from most digestive diseases.

According to the UEG analysis, the average projected cost of inpatient health service delivery for digestive illnesses as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) among the 31 nations included in the study was 0.12% (excluding treatment and diagnostics).

This corresponds to a possible cost of $20 billion for the EU as a whole in 2021.

“The health, economic and social burden of digestive diseases,” according to Helena Cortez-Pinto, UEG president, “is increasing at an alarming rate.

“Our healthcare systems and economies are already in a fragile state and urgent action is required to tackle these burdens, through public education, modulation of lifestyle choices and research, in order to reverse these alarming trends”.

The analysis estimates that €11.4 billion (around $11.11 billion) in savings from the prevention of productivity losses would result if premature death from digestive disease could be lowered by 25% across the 31 European countries (in 2019). This goes up to €22,8 billion(around $21.4B) and €34,2 billion(nearly $33.3 billion) for 50% and 75% cuts, respectively.

When comparing countries in Central and Eastern Europe to those in Western and Southern Europe, the burden of gastrointestinal diseases, as determined by Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), tends to be higher. This is especially true for conditions like chronic liver disease, pancreatitis, gastritis, and duodenitis, as well as vascular intestinal disorders and peptic ulcer disease.

 “Stark health inequalities remain across Europe and, with emerging economic challenges, we expect these inequalities to be further exacerbated,” warns UEG Research Committee Chair Luigi Ricciardiello. 

“Unfortunately, despite their substantial prevalence and global impact, many digestive diseases are still poorly understood and attract relatively little attention from either a policy or funding perspective”.

Since there have been few advances since UEG did a study quite similar to this one in 2014 that highlighted similar burdens, the findings and conclusions of this most recent UEG study will help speed up the process of reducing the burden of digestive problems.

Additionally, it will aid in determining the top areas in which both individual countries and all of Europe ought to invest and conduct research.

“The lack of progress over the last two decades in reducing the incidence of digestive diseases underscores the need for greater adoption of effective preventative strategies,” adds Principal Investigator Tanith Rose. “Social and economic factors contribute to important differences in the burden of most digestive diseases, and efforts to reduce the burden which fail to account for these factors are likely to have limited success”.

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