New Ulcerative colitis content for you
Julie Roberts is a member of the Sano community and lives in North Carolina, US. She has lived with the symptoms of ulcerative colitis for almost 40 years.
Genetic counsellor Kira Dineen discusses some of the genes which can impact IBD.
Luke is an ulcerative colitis patient advocate and Sano community member based in Texas, USA. He shares his top tips for managing UC symptoms and maintaining positive mental health.
Genetic counsellor Kira Dineen explains how it's possible for healthy people to pass on genetic disorders.
Elspeth Mackenzie is an artist and illustrator, she shares the story of her diagnosis and breaking the perceived taboos around Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Genetic counsellor Kira Dineen explains how nature and nurture work together and not in isolation.
Julie Roberts is a member of the Sano community and lives in North Carolina, US. She has lived with the symptoms of ulcerative colitis for almost 40 years.
Genetic counsellor Kira Dineen explains how we can all be unique when we share 99.9% of our DNA.
How can our genes reveal personalised treatment options? Genetic counsellor Kira Dineen explains.
As part of a new blog series, genetic counsellor Kira Dineen explains the role of genetics in immune conditions.
Certified genetic counsellor Kira Dineen explains genetic risk and the role it plays in healthcare decisions.
Genetics
Researchers have found variations in dozens of genes which may be linked to developing ulcerative colitis, but the role of these variants is not yet confirmed or fully understood. [3]
Heritability means how much of the differences in a trait (like height) within a group of people can be attributed to differences in genetics.
Something like eye colour has very high heritability (>80%), which means it’s almost completely determined by genetics. Something like a person’s first language has 0% heritability - as that’s entirely to do with their environment.
What it doesn’t mean is how likely something is to be inherited from a parent , as even if a condition had 100% heritability, and so was completely down to genetics, it might be associated with a dominant or recessive gene, or more likely associated with many many genes, which interact in complex ways and which are still being explored & discovered!
Main Symptoms
Severity of symptoms varies, depending on how much of the colon is inflamed and how severe the inflammation is. [4]
Impacts
6.8 million cases of IBD were recorded word-wide in 2017 with its global prevalence growing significantly over a 27 year period. [5]
The Nation Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK) reports that ulcerative colitis can develop at any age, but that peak incidence occurs between the ages of 15 and 25 years. [6]
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