Although anxiety and depression are linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), the extent and direction of the risk are not unknown. Using population representative data, this study estimates the risk of anxiety or depression following an IBD diagnosis as well as the risk of IBD in people who already have anxiety or depression. MEDLINE and Embase were used to conduct a systematic literature search, and we included cohort studies from unselected studies reporting the risk of anxiety or depression in patients with IBD or the risk of IBD in patients with anxiety or depression. We performed subgroup meta-analysis using the Random Effect Model to determine risk by IBD subtype and IBD with pediatric onset, and we calculated pooled Hazard Ratios (HR) for anxiety and depression in IBD. There were nine studies altogether, seven of which looked at the prevalence of anxiety or depression among more than 150,000 IBD patients. Following an IBD diagnosis, meta-analysis revealed an elevated risk of both anxiety (HR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.29-1.70) and depression (HR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.35-1.78). IBD risk was found to be two times higher in two trials involving over 400,000 people who had depression.
