Genetic?

[laurad1969]

Hi
my daughter was 14 when she got diagnosed with Crohns a year ago, but my son (13) has started with some similar symptoms....what is the likelihood that he has it too? No-one else in the family has IBD, but don't want to leave him to get in the same state. The GP will probably think I'm a neurotic mother - again!!!!!
Any ideas?:sign0085:

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Personally, I would get it checked out. My understanding is that there is some genetic component, and there's also environmental and emotional (stress) factors that come into play as far as the onset of Crohn's. Don't worry about what your GP thinks, and if he ignores you or writes you off as being neurotic, find a different GP. Your son's health is more important than your doctor's opinion of you.

 

[Dexky]

The research seems to be all over the map but generally points to sibs being as high as 30 times more likely to develop crohns than the general public. Better to be cautious, the GP will sleep just fine regardless.

 

[Silvermoon]

My brother was diagnosed with Crohn's about 4 years after I was, and the Support Group rep for our area also had two children with Crohn's. In both cases, the older child was diagnosed first, and about 4-6 years later, as soon as signs started to show. So, no, you are not neurotic, and even if (HUGE if) you are, you aren't alone! LOL!

I agree, get it checked....and keep checking til you get your answers.

Best wishes.

 

[Creepy Lurker]

Using a liability-threshold model, we estimate that the 32 loci identified to date explain about 10% of the overall variance in disease risk, which may be as much as a fifth of the genetic risk, given previous estimates of CD heritability of approximately 50%.20 This observation is consistent with the fact that these loci collectively contribute only a factor of two to sibling relative risk (λs), and even this figure is dominated by the substantial contribution of NOD2 variants. However, it should be emphasized that the full impact of the new loci cannot be determined until causal variants have been identified by directed sequencing and fine-mapping experiments. Until then the proportion of the variance in Crohn's disease risk explained must be measured from the confirmed SNPs, where association is due to LD with causal variants. Since multiple causal variants might exist at each locus (ranging in frequency from rare to common) our estimates of variance explained provide only a lower bound for the true contribution of each locus.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2574810/?tool=pmcentrez

Bit technical, but this interesting point is this:

these loci collectively contribute only a factor of two to sibling relative risk (λs), and even this figure is dominated by the substantial contribution of NOD2 variants

I read it as a slightly higher risk for siblings, but not by a huge amount over the standard.

Still best to get it checked out though. A higher risk is a higher risk.

 

[DustyKat]

If you think there's a reason to go and have him checked then go for it. Who cares what the doctor thinks :lol:

Seriously, don't let the doctor thinking you're neurotic get in the way. If it turns out there's nothing wrong then you're no worse off but if it is IBD, then as you say, you'll hopefully be nipping it in the bud early. In my opinion it's a win/win situation.

Good luck and keep us posted,
Dusty

 

[Jennifer]

My sister and I of four children were diagnosed the same year (I was 9 and she was 11 and I was diagnosed first). Yes it is genetic but that's not how everyone gets it as Cat said. Better to be safe than sorry.