Disease Activity Patterns of Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study (1996–2018)

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Background and Aims: Inflammatory bowel diseases [IBD] are heterogeneous in the frequency and severity of their flare-ups. We aimed to describe disease activity patterns in a Danish nationwide paediatric IBD cohort. Methods: Paediatric patients [<18 years at diagnosis] with Crohn’s disease [pCD] or ulcerative colitis [pUC] in the study period from 1996 to 2018 were identified in national registers. Disease activity [severe, moderate-to-mild, remission] was assessed at diagnosis according to medications prescribed, hospitalizations, and surgeries. Results: In total, 1965 pCD and 1838 pUC incident patients were included in the cohort. At diagnosis, severe disease activity was found in 87%/80% of pCD/pUC and in addition 6.1% of pUC patients had undergone a colectomy during the first year after diagnosis. Five years after diagnosis, the annual proportions of pCD/pUC with no disease activity were 70%/61%, and 10 years after diagnosis the proportions were 72%/64%. Colectomy was required in 6.1, 12, and 16% of pUC patients after 1, 5 and 10 years. No improvement of disease activity was seen in the proportion of prevalent pCD [N = 2515] and pUC [N = 2428] in the study period 2000–2018 concomitant with the introduction of biological treatment. However, decreasing disease activity was the most common pattern in both pCD and pUC [43 and 47%], respectively. Conclusions: pIBD was characterized by a high proportion of patients with severe activity at diagnosis, followed by an improvement after 5 and 10 years of follow-up. Notably, the proportion of patients with no disease activity was unchanged when biological treatment was introduced and the number of colectomies in pUC remained high.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Crohn's and Colitis
Volume18
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)246-255
Number of pages10
ISSN1873-9946
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation. All rights reserved.

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