Microscopic colitis

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Drug Consumption and the Risk of Microscopic Colitis.” (Am J Gastroenterol. 2006 Nov 13). Authors are Fernandez-Banares F, Esteve M, Espinos JC, et al., from the Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Universitari Mutua Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain. Microscopic colitis is a rare disease of unknown etiology. It has been described that some drugs could cause or worsen the disease; however, the scientific evidence is limited. In a case-control study the authors investigate the possible association of chronic drug consumption with microscopic colitis. The groups of cases were: Group 1-39 patients with collagenous colitis; Group 2-39 patients with lymphocytic colitis; and Group 3-52 patients with chronic watery diarrhea of functional characteristics. 103 subjects formed the control group. At diagnosis, a drug consumption history of at least 2-wk duration was registered. The conclusions are that drug consumption increases the risk of microscopic colitis. Some drugs might be trigger factors of colonic inflammation in predisposed hosts, and others might only worsen self-evolving microscopic colitis. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.