The Incidence of Crohn's Disease in Cardiff Over the Last 75 Years
The Incidence of Crohn's Disease in Cardiff Over the Last 75 Years
Background: The incidence of Crohn's disease rose rapidly in industralized countries over the past 50 years, but it is unclear whether the incidence is still rising or has reached a plateau.
Aims: To update the long-term incidence study of Crohn's disease in Cardiff for 1996-2005, to investigate whether incidence is still rising and to study changes in disease characteristics over time.
Method: Crohn's cases identified by retrospective analysis of hospital records as in previous studies in Cardiff.
Results: Two hundred and twelve cases were identified. Corrected incidence for this decade was 66 × 10 per year (95% confidence interval: 58-76), showing a continuing rise compared to previous decades. The proportion with colonic disease at presentation continues to rise (43%) with a corresponding fall in those with terminal ileal disease. There remains a strong female preponderance (F:M 1.6:1) as in previous studies. The incidence in children under age 16 continues to rise, and the median age at diagnosis has fallen slightly.
Conclusion: Crohn's disease incidence continues to rise slowly in Cardiff with a continuing increase in those presenting with colonic disease, which is now the commonest disease pattern.
The aetiology of Crohn's disease remains unknown, although a combination of genetic and environmental factors is likely to be involved. The CARD15 gene is the first susceptibility gene specifically associated with Crohn's and many other susceptibility regions (IBD1 to 7) have been identified. The incidence of Crohn's disease in industrialized countries has been documented in a number of populations, and data have been collected on the incidence in the City of Cardiff back to the 1930s. The rapid rise in incidence over the past 50 years is a strong pointer to environmental factors in aetiology. In Cardiff, there was a peak in the early 1980s and since then the rise in the incidence seemed to be plateauing. In this study, we present data on a further 10-year cohort (1996-2005) of newly diagnosed patients resident in the City. Cardiff remains well suited to this study, as it has a relatively stable population served by two hospitals under single management. We continue to use similar methods of case collection and definition as in previous studies. 88% of the population are White people, 2% Black African, Caribbean or mixed White-Black and 4% Asian or mixed White-Asian.
Summary and Introduction
Summary
Background: The incidence of Crohn's disease rose rapidly in industralized countries over the past 50 years, but it is unclear whether the incidence is still rising or has reached a plateau.
Aims: To update the long-term incidence study of Crohn's disease in Cardiff for 1996-2005, to investigate whether incidence is still rising and to study changes in disease characteristics over time.
Method: Crohn's cases identified by retrospective analysis of hospital records as in previous studies in Cardiff.
Results: Two hundred and twelve cases were identified. Corrected incidence for this decade was 66 × 10 per year (95% confidence interval: 58-76), showing a continuing rise compared to previous decades. The proportion with colonic disease at presentation continues to rise (43%) with a corresponding fall in those with terminal ileal disease. There remains a strong female preponderance (F:M 1.6:1) as in previous studies. The incidence in children under age 16 continues to rise, and the median age at diagnosis has fallen slightly.
Conclusion: Crohn's disease incidence continues to rise slowly in Cardiff with a continuing increase in those presenting with colonic disease, which is now the commonest disease pattern.
Introduction
The aetiology of Crohn's disease remains unknown, although a combination of genetic and environmental factors is likely to be involved. The CARD15 gene is the first susceptibility gene specifically associated with Crohn's and many other susceptibility regions (IBD1 to 7) have been identified. The incidence of Crohn's disease in industrialized countries has been documented in a number of populations, and data have been collected on the incidence in the City of Cardiff back to the 1930s. The rapid rise in incidence over the past 50 years is a strong pointer to environmental factors in aetiology. In Cardiff, there was a peak in the early 1980s and since then the rise in the incidence seemed to be plateauing. In this study, we present data on a further 10-year cohort (1996-2005) of newly diagnosed patients resident in the City. Cardiff remains well suited to this study, as it has a relatively stable population served by two hospitals under single management. We continue to use similar methods of case collection and definition as in previous studies. 88% of the population are White people, 2% Black African, Caribbean or mixed White-Black and 4% Asian or mixed White-Asian.
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