A new British study, released on Monday, has revealed that people suffering from active forms of a group of conditions commonly known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), might just face much greater risk of developing blood clots which could be potentially life-threatening, than was previously estimated.

As per the study, patients who are non-hospitalized and tackling IBD flare-ups are as much as 16 times more at risk of suffering from a blood clot in a vein as compared to the general, non-hospitalized population. This means that there is about a 1 in 100 risk per person suffering from IBD, per year.

"While the absolute risk is low and similar to that in women who are pregnant - who are known to have a slightly higher risk than the average population - the increased risk we have demonstrated for patients with active disease outside hospital means that their doctors should regard them as a high-risk group during these times", said study co-author Dr. Matthew J Grainge, of University of Nottingham.

Blood clots in the body, which generally originate from the legs, sometimes end up traveling to the lungs and can be seriously life-threatening.

Details of the study have been published in The Lancet.