FREQUENT use of antibiotics may heighten the risk of inflammatory bowel disease - Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis - among the over 40s, suggested research published in the journal Gut.
The findings indicated that the risk is cumulative, greatest one to two years after use, and highest for antibiotics used to target gut infections.
Mounting evidence suggests that environmental factors are implicated in the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Globally, close to 7m people have the condition, with this number expected to rise over the next decade, the researchers said.
One factor associated with IBD risk in younger people is the use of antibiotics, but it is not clear if this association might also apply to older people.
To explore this further, the researchers drew on national medical data from 2000 to 2018 for Danish citizens aged 10 and upwards who hadn't been diagnosed with IBD.
They specifically wanted to know if the timing and dose of antibiotic might be important for the development of IBD, and whether this varied by IBD and antibiotic type.
More than 6.1m people were included in the study, just over half of whom were female; in total, 5.5m were prescribed at least one course of antibiotics between 2000 and 2018.
During this period, some 36,017 new cases of ulcerative colitis and 16,881 new cases of Crohn's disease were diagnosed.
Overall, compared with no antibiotic use, the use of these drugs was associated with a higher risk of developing IBD, regardless of age; however, older age was associated with the highest risk.
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