Have you noticed where crohns is more prominent

[spencer2012]

someone on here earlier made a great point that has slipped my attention before. she asked had i noticed that crohns seemed to be more widespread and prominent in the UK, USA and australia. shes actually got a valid point. i wondered if anyone has any theories or better still, actual facts as to why this may be the case?

 

[Lisa]

Where did this information come from? Just anecdotal observation or from a study that was done etc?

 

[InstantCoffee]

I'm pretty sure there are studies that show similar information, but I've only heard of them, not actually seen them myself.

 

[spencer2012]

sorry pasobuff, its just anecdotal obs. i mean almost everyone on this forum and others alike tend to be from one of the 3. although it is just an observation there must be something to it so i just wondered if anyone had information relating to why this may be the case

 

[InstantCoffee]

One also has to question whether the more industrialized nations are the cause or it's simply that modern medicine is more likely to be able to accurately identify the specific condition and it's more accessible to the populace via insurance and government programs so more people are seen for their condition and treated, thus recorded.

 

[Lisa]

sorry pasobuff, its just anecdotal obs. i mean almost everyone on this forum and others alike tend to be from one of the 3. although it is just an observation there must be something to it so i just wondered if anyone had information relating to why this may be the case

No prob.....it is hard to get a true feel for geographic distribution from a site such as this - especially since not all members post where they rae from, and many people who may have this disease may have no desire to talk about it and/or interact with others who have it.

I'm sure someone somewhere has done an 'official' study - would be interested to see what common denominators there are (if any).......

 

[spencer2012]

yeah maybe you have a point too. i would like to know though

 

[stefan]

These studies are always interesting, but there are so many variables it can be hard to know how accurate they are.

Interestingly, Australia's first population study, pending publication, actually suggests we have 50% higher incidence than previous studies have suggested, which were based largely on US data.

It's definitely worth keeping an eye on!

2

 

[spencer2012]

i guess it interests me because the countries i speak of are at the forfront of medicene and have great state and national health systems. id like to know how some of the less fortunate countries cope with their crohns if indeed they suffer largely from it with regards to surgery, treatments, drugs etc

 

[stefan]

Agreed, it's always hard to separate the incidence rates from the diagnosis rates reliably, especially when we are catching it much earlier in countries with more developed & accessible medicine than even just a few years ago.

2

 

[Jennifer]

"The geographic distribution of Crohn's disease historically suggested a north-south gradient of incidence; however, more recent investigations have reported increased prevalence in temperate regions of North America, South Africa, and Australia. Urban areas have a higher incidence of disease than rural populations, and ethnic minorities (south Asians in the United Kingdom, blacks in South Africa, Bedouin Arabs in Israel) are at lower risk. Jews originating from middle Europe (Ashkenazi Jews) and those individuals of Scandinavian descent are at increased risk (Figure 5)."

http://www.hopkins-gi.org/GDL_Disea...DL_DC_ID=D03119D7-57A3-4890-A717-CF1E7426C8BA

I don't have any guesses as to why, just sharing info I found a while back.

 

[spencer2012]

what a lovely exert of information, many thanks crabby. I wonder if any of these factors get considered even half as much as they should

 

[Ihurt]

I remember reading that in the third world countries where there is poverty, they do not have crohns disease like it is here, I mean it is almost ungeard of in these places. The reason is likley because they do not have access to medications like antibitoics( which has been implicated in causing crohns, something about the disrupting of flora in the gut). Also, they do not have fast foods or genetically modified foods in those countries like we do here. I mean they do have other issues they deal with though, like starvation and sickness. I also think even the water we drink( well here in the US at least) is so full of toxic stuff( different medications and chemicals) that I am sure that even plays a role in this. I wont even drink tap water. I only drink evian( thankfully I found a place that sells it cheap!). But yeah, there are so many vaiables.

i guess it interests me because the countries i speak of are at the forfront of medicene and have great state and national health systems. id like to know how some of the less fortunate countries cope with their crohns if indeed they suffer largely from it with regards to surgery, treatments, drugs etc

 

[Tina80]

I read somewhere that Scotland has the highest rate of inflammatory bowel disease in Europe and some suggest this is due to a lack of sunlight and vitamin D. Not sure how this would make sense though if there are high rates in Australia.

 

[bangarang]

I remember reading that in the third world countries where there is poverty, they do not have crohns disease like it is here, I mean it is almost ungeard of in these places. The reason is likley because they do not have access to medications like antibitoics( which has been implicated in causing crohns, something about the disrupting of flora in the gut). Also, they do not have fast foods or genetically modified foods in those countries like we do here. I mean they do have other issues they deal with though, like starvation and sickness. I also think even the water we drink( well here in the US at least) is so full of toxic stuff( different medications and chemicals) that I am sure that even plays a role in this. I wont even drink tap water. I only drink evian( thankfully I found a place that sells it cheap!). But yeah, there are so many vaiables.

I agree its funny that all these food allergies largely increasing in the most industrialized countries when they should be the healthiest. Humans are dangerous. That's all I'm going to say about that.

 

[kiny]

I think Asia is interesting because although the rates of crohn's disease is rising, they have none of the common genetic markers of crohn's disease.

Even in the West, the genetic factor in crohn's disease is really not that strong. It's there, but the genetic link in crohn's disease is not strong at all. NOD2 and ATG16L1 mutations are subgroups, not the norm, and even then, it is often only one of either.

Even in exact twins, while more likely to get crohn's disease, in many cases only one twin gets crohn's disease.

This points to another factor promoting disease.

I don't remember what other countries they saw this, but they have seen this in a number of Asian countries now, I believe they saw it in Hong Kong and South-Korea too.

(there are a number of other genes involved in crohn's disease susceptibility, the list is up to 70 now or something, but they are all incredibly tiny percentages that increase the risk of crohn's disease, not something you can call causative, it's just predisposition)

NOD2/CARD15 gene polymorphisms and Crohn's disease in the Chinese population.

BACKGROUND:

Crohn's disease affects people world-wide, but the incidence in Asia is lower than in Western countries. This difference may be due to genetic and/or environmental factors. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the NOD2/CARD15 gene have been identified to be independently associated with the development of Crohn's disease in Caucasians. Whether these SNPs are involved in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease in the Chinese population is unknown.
AIM:

To determine if NOD2/CARD15 gene polymorphisms are found in Chinese patients with Crohn's disease.
METHODS:

Sixty-five consecutive Chinese Crohn's disease patients had genotyping performed using sequence-specific PCR directed against the wild-type and the Arg702Trp, Gly908Arg and 3020insC variants of the NOD2/CARD15 gene. Controls consisted of 63 patients with ulcerative colitis and 70 patients with dyspepsia.
RESULTS:

None of the patients with Crohn's disease had heterozygous or homozygous SNP variants. Similarly none of the ulcerative colitis or dyspeptic controls had these SNPs.
CONCLUSION:

The three previously described SNPs associated with the development of Crohn's disease in Caucasians are not found in Chinese patients with Crohn's disease.

 

[kiny]

I remember reading that in the third world countries where there is poverty, they do not have crohns disease like it is here, I mean it is almost ungeard of in these places. The reason is likley because they do not have access to medications like antibitoics( which has been implicated in causing crohns, something about the disrupting of flora in the gut).

I read that study, you are right that the rates where higher in people with prior antibiotics use.

But, to say underdeveloped countries wouldn't have antibiotics exposure is for example not true in China where crohn's disease is rising but is much lower. Even in Africa, there is plenty of antibiotics use, still the rates of crohn's disease are extremely low.

Antibiotics use in China is everywhere, it's abused for everything, the cost of antibiotics is low. Still, the rates in China are nowhere near those of the West.

Antibiotics use in the West has also diminshed because of fear of resistance, but the rates of crohn's disease are not going down, they are skyrocketing in the West.