Hongyun Wei
1 
, Ziying Yuan
1, Keyu Ren
1, Yanchun Jin
1, Linlin Ren
1, Bin Cao
1, Yuanyuan Zhou
2, Linlin Chen
2* 1 Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266000, P.R. China
2 The Fourth Department of the Digestive Disease Center, Suining Central Hospital, Suining, Sichuan 629000, P.R. China
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with body composition changes, which are associated with clinical prognosis, response to therapy, and quality of life in IBD patients. Therefore, it is critical to review the body composition distribution in IBD, summarize the potential factors affecting body composition distribution, and take steps to improve the body composition distribution of IBD patients as early as possible. In the current review, we searched PubMed via keywords ‘inflammatory bowel disease’, or ‘IBD’, or ‘Crohn’s disease’, or ‘CD’, or ‘ulcerative colitis’, or ‘UC’, and ‘body composition’. Malnutrition and sarcopenia are common in IBD patients and are associated with the clinical course, prognosis, and need for surgery. Disease activity, reduced nutrition intake, vitamin D deficiency, and intestinal dysbiosis are factors contributing to changed body composition. Early use of biological agents to induce remission is critical to improving body composition distribution in IBD patients, supplementation of vitamin D is also important, and moderate physical activity is recommended in IBD patients with clinical remission.