The global incidence of inflammatory bowel disease is one which is increasing, imposing significant socio-economic burden and greater pressure on healthcare services, both regionally and nationally. This increase in disease incidence evinces why it is important research is conducted, with the aim of relieving these burdens by establishing patterns within cohorts and communities.
Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Mads and colleagues set out to investigate the incidence of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease, with the aim of establishing and characterising a comprehensive population-based group of patients with paediatric inflammatory bowel disease over 40 years, based in the north of Denmark.
The Pediatric NorDIBD Cohort
Mads et al. identified a total sample size of 468 children diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in North Denmark, a region with a population of 589,936 inhabitants. This sample was identified between 1978–2020 and formed the Pediatric NordDIBD cohort (pNorDIBD). Patient characteristics were manually collected from medical records and were examined for developments in incidence, family history of inflammatory bowel disease, and disease presentation.
Increase in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Following analysis of the records collected, it was observed that a total number of 244 children with encompassing ulcerative colitis were diagnosed between 1978–2020, and the same number of children were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease during the same period. It was calculated that incidence of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease had increased by 272%. It was also observed that the median age at diagnosis was 15.4 years for both encompassing ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and had increased over the 4 decades.
Future Projection
This study establishes an increase in both incidence and extensiveness of newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease in paediatric patients over the last 40 years. Dr Mads Lie, Center for Molecular Prediction of Inflammatory Bowel Disease PREDICT, Copenhagen, Denmark, highlighted how this increase: “raises an important question for future research and management of gastrointestinal health as to what exactly is driving this continued increase in children, hinting at the important role of early-life exposures, which might be compounding and resulting in the emergence of [inflammatory bowel disease] in younger and younger children.”
Here, Mads outlines how this research points to the necessity of further research regarding the aetiology and long-term outcomes of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease.
Reference
Lie M et al. Phenotypic presentation of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease through 4 decades: The Pediatric NorDIBD cohort. Am J Gastroenterol. 2026;DOI:10.14309/ajg.0000000000003986.
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