Inflammatory Bowel Disease: One Condition or Two?

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Demographic data obtained from epidemiological studies of Crohn''s disease and ulcerative proctocolitis in Regio Leiden (Leiden health care region) were compared. Ulcerative colitis (6.8 cases/105 population/year) had an incidence almost twice that of Crohn''s disease (3.9/105/year; p < 0.001). Each disease occurred with equal frequency in both sexes and diagnosis of the diseases occurred at similar ages (Spearman''s correlation coefficient = 0.84; p < 0.01). Where ulcerative colitis was common in the various municipalities so was Crohn''s disease (Spearman''s correlation coefficient = 0.88; p < 0.001). No cases of Crohn''s disease were identified amongst migrants, but 6 cases of ulcerative colitis (prevalence = 85/105; 95% confidence interval = 35-195) were found. This difference was significance (p < 0.05). It seems likely that the two diseases may simply represent the opposite ends of a continuous spectrum of inflammatory bowel disease.