Deciphering the complex interplay between physical activity, inflammatory bowel disease and obesity/BMl through causal inference and mediation analyses

Abstract

Background and Aims Observational studies on the association between physical activity (PA) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), report inconsistent results. Moreover, the underlying mediator between PA and IBDs remains unknown. We aimed to investigate the causal effect of PA on IBD and the role of BMI as a mediator between PA and IBD.