More IBD Cases Than Ever in Young Canadian Children

Posted on by

Summary of recent article (Link to full study: Benchimol EI, et al. Am J Gastroenterol. 2017;doi:10.1038/ajg.2017.97) by Healio Gastroenterology: IBD incidence rapidly increasing in young Canadian children

An excerpt:

To evaluate the recent incidence, prevalence and trends in childhood-onset IBD in Canada, Benchimol and colleagues used health administrative data from five provinces to identify children aged younger than 16 years who were diagnosed with IBD between 1999 and 2010. During this period, 3,462 children were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, 1,382 with ulcerative colitis and 279 with unclassifiable IBD, for an overall IBD incidence of 9.68 (95% CI, 9.11-10.25) per 100,000 children.

Throughout the study period, the annual percentage change in overall IBD incidence remained statistically stable, increasing by just 2.06% per year, but the incidence increased significantly among children aged younger than 5 years, rising by 7.19% per year.

Further, the annual percentage change in the prevalence of IBD increased significantly throughout the study period (4.56%), and at the end of the study period IBD prevalence was 38.25 (95% CI, 35.78-40.73) per 100,000 children.

The investigators noted their findings confirmed the predominant form of pediatric-onset IBD was Crohn’s disease, and that more boys were affected than girls.

My take: While Canada has high prevalence of IBD, I expect that there will be similar trends in epidemiology in multiple regions in young children.  When one looks at the increases in IBD prevalence over the last 100 years (see previous post) and the emergence of IBD in non-Western countries, it is quite alarming.

Also, last week a blog post discussed hepatic problems associated with IBD (Liver problems with IBD): here is full article text link: Hepatic Issues and Complications Associated with IBD

Related blog posts: