Nickel Sensitivity in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Nickel (Ni) is the most common contact allergen in the population. We aimed to investigate whether there is a relationship between Ni sensitivity and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in our study.

This study was conducted in 50 patients with IBS who were followed up between March 2018 and July 2018, and 40 healthy people as a control group in a single center with a dermatology department. European standard contact allergen series Ni preparate and corticosteroid pomace were applied to the back region of the study subjects. The evaluation was performed at 48, 72, and 96 hours according to the scheme proposed by the International Contact Dermatitis Research Group (ICDRG). Those who reacted at 72 hours were considered to have Ni allergy.  Results: The female/male ratio was 24/26 and 18/22 in the patient and control groups, respectively. The mean ages of the patient and control groups were 42.82 (±10.65) and 39.77 (±11.21) years, respectively. Ni sensitivity was present in 40% of the patient group and 17.5% of the control group (p=0.03).

We believe that the presence of Ni sensitivity is important in the pathogenesis of IBS disease. In our study, Ni sensitivity was found to be quite high in IBS patients compared to the normal population.