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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by damage to the gut mucosa and systemic inflammation. We sought to evaluate the role of chronic inflammation on circulating T‐cell activation in human subjects with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. We studied 54 patients with IBD and 28 healthy controls. T‐cell activation and cycling were assessed in whole blood samples by flow cytometry. Levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were measured in serum by Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay, and plasma levels of inflammatory markers and LPS‐binding proteins were measured by ELISA. The proportions of circulating CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in cycle (Ki67⁺) are increased in patients with IBD compared with these proportions in controls. CD8⁺ T cells from patients with IBD are also enriched for cells that expressed CD38 and HLA‐DR, and proportions of these cells are related to plasma levels of …