By Jessica Speed,Web Master

Copyright japantimes

Japan is seeing a rapid rise in cases of two chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, with estimated patient numbers climbing about 40% in just eight years, a government-backed study shows.A health ministry team composed of researchers from Toho University, Kyorin University and Osaka Metropolitan University published their results this month in the Journal of Gastroenterology.Their study estimated that as of 2023, there were 316,900 people in Japan with ulcerative colitis and 95,700 with Crohn’s disease. Compared with the last nationwide survey in 2015, which estimated there were about 220,000 ulcerative colitis patients and 71,000 patients with Crohn’s disease, the prevalence of such illnesses has risen roughly 1.4 times.