Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Apr;13(4):481-9.
doi: 10.1002/ibd.20036.

Changes in clinical characteristics, course, and prognosis of inflammatory bowel disease during the last 5 decades: a population-based study from Copenhagen, Denmark

Tine Jess  1 , Lene Riis, Ida Vind, Karen Vanessa Winther, Sixten Borg, Vibeke Binder, Ebbe Langholz, Ole Østergaard Thomsen, Pia Munkholm
Affiliations

Changes in clinical characteristics, course, and prognosis of inflammatory bowel disease during the last 5 decades: a population-based study from Copenhagen, Denmark

Tine Jess et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2007 Apr.

Abstract

Background: It remains uncertain whether the increasing incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) during the last decades has been accompanied by an alteration in the presentation, course, and prognosis of the disease. To answer this question, 3 consecutive population-based IBD cohorts from Copenhagen, Denmark (1962-2005), were assessed and evaluated.

Methods: Phenotype, initial disease course, use of medications, cumulative surgery rate, standardized incidence ratio of colorectal cancer (CRC), and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) were compared in the 3 cohorts, which had a total of 641 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and 1575 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Results: From 1962 to 2005, the proportion of IBD patients suffering from CD increased (P < 0.001), time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis of CD decreased (P = 0.001), and median age at diagnosis of UC increased (P < 0.01). The prevalence of upper gastrointestinal involvement and pure colonic CD varied significantly between cohorts. UC patients diagnosed in the 1990s had a higher prevalence of proctitis, received more medications, and had a milder initial disease course than did previous patients. The surgery rate decreased significantly in CD but not in UC. The risk of CRC in IBD was close to expected over the entire period, whereas the mortality of patients with CD increased (overall SMR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.07-1.60).

Conclusions: Despite variations in the presentation and initial course of IBD during the last 5 decades, its long-term prognosis remained fairly stable. Treatment of IBD changed recently, and future studies should address the effect of these changes on long-term prognosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources