Two more studies have shown increasing incidence of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.

First in Victoria, Australia (mostly Melbourne) (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2013; 19: 1-6).

Over a 60-year span (1950-2009), a retrospective review was undertaken of ulcerative colitis (UC) pediatric patients. In total, 342 children were diagnosed with UC. Key finding: The number of reported cases increased by 11-fold during the study period with a marked increase since 1990 (0.15 –>1.61/100,000).  In addition, recently diagnosed children have had more extensive disease.

Next in Spain (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2013; 19: 73-80).

This retrospective study from hospitals’ databases looked at the incidence between 1996-2009 in the pediatric population (<18 years).  A total of 2107 patients were identified: 1165 with Crohn’s disease, 788 ulcerative colitis, and 154 IBD unclassified. Median age at diagnosis was 12.3 years.  Key finding: in the last 14 years, pediatric IBD incidence has almost tripled (0.9 –>2.8/100,000).

Both of these studies have limitations related to large retrospective reviews in terms of potential problems with capturing all of the patients and the potential for misdiagnosis.  However, the trend is clear.  In addition, these studies show incidence rates comparable to several other Western studies.  The increasing incidence of IBD ‘argue for a common environmental factor in their pathogenesis.’  While interest has focused on microbial factors, the basis for this increased incidence currently remains elusive.

Related blog posts:

• Why are we seeing so many more cases | gutsandgrowth
• Microbiome in pediatric ulcerative colitis | gutsandgrowth
• More frequent pediatric IBD | gutsandgrowth