Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Gut logoLink to Gut
. 2001 Aug;49(2):199–202. doi: 10.1136/gut.49.2.199

Inflammatory bowel disease and laterality: is left handedness a risk?

D Morris 1, S Montgomery 1, M Galloway 1, R Pounder 1, A Wakefield 1
PMCID: PMC1728406  PMID: 11454794

Abstract

BACKGROUND—Left handedness has been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and autoimmune diseases.
AIMS—To determine whether left handedness is associated with IBD in two prospective national birth cohorts.
METHODS—Subjects with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) were identified from two national longitudinal birth cohorts at age 26 years (1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), born in 1970) and age 33 years (National Child Development Study (NCDS), born in 1958). Laterality was determined at age 10 (BCS70) or seven (NCDS) years, based on hand preference for writing and foot preference for kicking a ball (BCS70 only). Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of handedness with CD, UC, and IBD in the cohorts combined and adjusted for sex.
RESULTS—Both cohorts combined showed increased adjusted relative odds of 2.13 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.97-4.65; p=0.059), 2.13 (95% CI 0.92-4.91; p=0. 077), and 2.13 (95% CI 1.20-3.78; p=0.010) for CD, UC, and IBD, respectively in left handers.
CONCLUSIONS—The study suggests a link between IBD and left handedness which may be genetic and/or environmental in origin.


Keywords: inflammatory bowel disease; handedness

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (141.2 KB).

graphic file with name gut-ttm.f1.jpg

Open in a new tab

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Becker J. T., Bass S. M., Dew M. A., Kingsley L., Selnes O. A., Sheridan K. Hand preference, immune system disorder and cognitive function among gay/bisexual men: the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). Neuropsychologia. 1992 Mar;30(3):229–235. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(92)90002-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bryden M. P., McManus I. C., Bulman-Fleming M. B. Evaluating the empirical support for the Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda model of cerebral lateralization. Brain Cogn. 1994 Nov;26(2):103–167. doi: 10.1006/brcg.1994.1045. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chengappa K. N., Ganguli R., Ulrich R., Rabin B. S., Cochran J., Brar J. S., Yang Z. W., Deleo M. The prevalence of autoantibodies among right and left handed schizophrenic patients and control subjects. Biol Psychiatry. 1992 Nov 1;32(9):803–811. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(92)90083-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chengappa K. N., Ganguli R., Yang Z. W., Schurin G., Cochran J., Brar J. S., Rabin B. Non-right sidedness: an association with lower IL-2 production. Life Sci. 1992;51(24):1843–1849. doi: 10.1016/0024-3205(92)90035-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dellatolas G., Annesi I., Jallon P., Chavance M., Lellouch J. An epidemiological reconsideration of the Geschwind-Galaburda theory of cerebral lateralization. Arch Neurol. 1990 Jul;47(7):778–782. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1990.00530070074013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Geschwind N., Behan P. Left-handedness: association with immune disease, migraine, and developmental learning disorder. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Aug;79(16):5097–5100. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.16.5097. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Le Roux A. Sex differences and the incidence of left-handedness. J Psychol. 1979 Jul;102(2D):261–262. doi: 10.1080/00223980.1979.9923496. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Leviton A., Kilty T. Seasonal variation in the birth of left-handed schoolgirls. Arch Neurol. 1979 Feb;36(2):115–116. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1979.00500380085016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McKeever W. F., Rich D. A. Left handedness and immune disorders. Cortex. 1990 Mar;26(1):33–40. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(13)80073-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Meyers S., Janowitz H. D. Left-handedness and inflammatory bowel disease. J Clin Gastroenterol. 1985 Feb;7(1):33–35. doi: 10.1097/00004836-198502000-00004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Montgomery S. M., Morris D. L., Thompson N. P., Subhani J., Pounder R. E., Wakefield A. J. Prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in British 26 year olds: national longitudinal birth cohort. BMJ. 1998 Apr 4;316(7137):1058–1059. doi: 10.1136/bmj.316.7137.1058. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Obrzut J. E. The Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda theory of cerebral lateralization: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis? Brain Cogn. 1994 Nov;26(2):267–274. doi: 10.1006/brcg.1994.1061. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Peter M., Durding B. M. Footedness of left- and right-handers. Am J Psychol. 1979 Mar;92(1):133–142. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Searleman A., Fugagli A. K. Suspected autoimmune disorders and left-handedness: evidence from individuals with diabetes. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Neuropsychologia. 1987;25(2):367–374. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(87)90025-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Smith J. Left-handedness: its association with allergic disease. Neuropsychologia. 1987;25(4):665–674. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(87)90057-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Soper H. V., Satz P., Orsini D. L., Henry R. R., Zvi J. C., Schulman M. Handedness patterns in autism suggest subtypes. J Autism Dev Disord. 1986 Jun;16(2):155–167. doi: 10.1007/BF01531727. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. St-Marseille A., Braun C. M. Comments on immune aspects of the Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda model and of the article of Bryden, McManus, and Bulman-Fleming. Brain Cogn. 1994 Nov;26(2):281–290. doi: 10.1006/brcg.1994.1063. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Thompson N. P., Montgomery S. M., Pounder R. E., Wakefield A. J. Is measles vaccination a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease? Lancet. 1995 Apr 29;345(8957):1071–1074. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)90816-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Gut are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES