Abdominal complaints in chronic conditions
The majority of the Dutch, almost 10 million people, have one or more chronic conditions (1). More than 3.7 million Dutch people with an MDL disorder are known to their GP and the majority (2.5 million) concerns abdominal complaints such as abdominal pain and constipation (2). In many cases, chronic diseases are accompanied by abdominal complaints and this may be an indication that the microbiome plays a role. For example, abdominal complaints such as constipation, reflux, and diarrhea are more common with headache (3), migraine patients relatively often have IBS (4), and about half of all diabetes patients have abdominal complaints (5,6). Many patients are reluctant to talk about stomach complaints or experience things like abdominal pain, diarrhea, or constipation as normal due to years of habituation. It makes sense to ask about abdominal complaints, because this can quickly provide insight into whether the microbiome may play a role and that can give a new perspective to treat long-term complaints. Asking about stomach complaints fits in every consultation hour. Simple tools for this (such as the Bristol stool chart and a list of questions) are available at MC.
Healthy aging with a unique microbiome
A recent publication shows that a more unique microbiome correlates with better health in the elderly (7). Different cohorts were used and these showed that the uniqueness of the microbiome increases with age and that the extent to which this happens is significant. The degree of uniqueness was found to be correlated with certain metabolites that were associated with very advanced age in previous studies. In addition, the degree of uniqueness of the microbiome was directly correlated with several indicators of health in the elderly (drug use, self-perception of health, size of living space, walking speed). Taken together, this research provides fairly strong indications that the microbiome plays a determinant role in healthy aging.
References:
- https://www.volksgezondheidenzorg.info/onderwerp/chronische-aandoeningen-en-multimorbiditeit/cijfers-context/huidige-situatie
- https://www.volksgezondheidenzorg.info/onderwerp/maag-darm-en-leveraandoeningen/prevalentie#node-aantal-personen-met-mdl-aandoening-bekend-bij-huisarts
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01486.x
- https://doi.org/10.5056/jnm.2013.19.3.301
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1464-5491.1999.00135.x
- https://doi.org/10.1080/003655200750024317
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00348-0 (available as a preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.26.966747)