Gastrointestinal disorders and rheumatic diseases

Pathologic changes in the gastrointestinal tract may be associated with clinical complaints in multiple organs. In some instances, the association between gastrointestinal pathology and extraintestinal disease is so strong that treatment of gastrointestinal disease cures the patient of the extraintestinal complaints. The references in Table 1 show that maintenance of the structural and immunologic barriers of the gastrointestinal tract are vital in determining the general health of the patient, and that the associations between the gut, arthritis, dermatitis, and autoimmune disease are much stronger than may appear at first glance.