Increasing Incidence of Pediatric IBD in Spain

[kiny]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ibd.22980/abstract

Increasing Incidence of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain (1996-2009): The SPIRIT Registry.

Martín-de-Carpi J, Rodríguez A, Ramos E, Jiménez S, Martínez-Gómez MJ, Medina E; on behalf of the SPIRIT-IBD Working Group of SEGHNP (Sociedad Española de Gastroenterología, Hepatología y Nutricion Pediátrica).

Madrid, Spain

2013 Jan

Background:

Although pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) diagnosis has increased in the last decades in Spain, there are no consistent epidemiologic data. Our aim was to describe the changing pattern of pediatric IBD incidence in Spain in the last 14 years.

Methods:

A retrospective survey of patients diagnosed below 18 years of age in the period 1996–2009 was performed. Patients' data were obtained from the hospitals' databases. To avoid reduced accrual of cases diagnosed by adult physicians, adult IBD units in referral centers were invited to participate. Seventy-eight centers participated in our survey. Rates of incidence were calculated using age-stratified population-based epidemiologic data. Incidence rates were compared for the last 14 years (1996–2009).

Results:

In total, data from 2107 patients were obtained: 1,165 Crohn's disease (CD, 55.3%), 788 ulcerative colitis (UC, 37.4%), and 154 IBD unclassified. The sex distribution was 56.4% male, with higher predominance for CD (59.3%) as compared to UC (52.8%) and IBD unclassified (53.2%) (P = 0.012). The median age at diagnosis was 12.3 years (p25–75 9.7–14.6) with significant differences between diseases. IBD incidence increased from 0.97 to 2.8/100,000 inhabitants <18 years/year in the study period. Although this increase is more evident for CD (from 0.53 to 1.7), UC has also risen considerably (0.39 to 0.88).

Conclusions:

This is the first attempt to calculate the current incidence of pediatric IBD in Spain. A significant increase of incidence rates in the study period was observed. In the last 14 years pediatric IBD incidence has almost tripled, with a more important CD increase. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2012)

 

[kiny]

genes don't explain this ~ they're getting crohn's disease regardless of genetic background

I remember the paper from Dalziel and the following papers that described chronic enteritis, they weren't that young on average. I think there was one child and a dozen of adults. So many kids are getting crohn's disease now. 320% increase in CD, if it is an exponential increase it is doubling in a couple of years, it's more like an epidemic.

Not sure if my numbers are correct, but 2,8 per 100k/year would mean 1 in 2000 children in Spain will have IBD before they turn 18. You might as well bring up your children in another country to avoid IBD at this rate.

 

[Moe.]

Agree kiny.
Uk, us, eu it's getting bigger and bigger but so is the population.
This is the h polyri saga again. I'm sure that there will be some cure within the next 20-30 years if we live that long.

 

[kiny]

In Canada it is the highest now, about one quarter of a million people have IBD in Canada, just below 1% of the population and it's still going up.

It is close to surpass diabetes rates in Canada I believe.

 

[Mark in Seattle]

There was a time when these epidemiological numbers were suspect; they always included some comments to the effect that the apparent increase may simply be due to better reporting and more people seeking care. But my sense is that at this point in time, IBD has been reported and measured and patients have routinely sought care for quite a number of years, and hence, the incidence measurements are becoming much more reliable.

These kinds of figures are really pretty alarming if you ask me.

Kiny, do you have an opinion on what's driving these numbers?

 

[rollinstone]

It really is insane how fast this disease is growing in numbers around the world, hopefully science will push even harder for a cure, if it hasn't been shelved already

 

[kiny]

There was a time when these epidemiological numbers were suspect; they always included some comments to the effect that the apparent increase may simply be due to better reporting and more people seeking care. But my sense is that at this point in time, IBD has been reported and measured and patients have routinely sought care for quite a number of years, and hence, the incidence measurements are becoming much more reliable.

These kinds of figures are really pretty alarming if you ask me.

Kiny, do you have an opinion on what's driving these numbers?

Dunno, people keep saying it's westernisation, or environmental factors, what does that even mean. It's another way of saying "we have no idea whatsoever".

I do know it's very rapidly increasing in countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia. Would people call those countries "westernised"? They don't look very westernised to me.