CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES: EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL PRESENTATION IN PAEDIATRIC AGE

Key words: Inflammatory bowel diseases, Children, Epidemiology

Background: Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are an increasing cause of morbidity in paediatric age both in the western countries and in the developing ones and, due to frequent aspecificity of their symptoms, are often diagnosed with a certain delay.
Methods and materials: Through the analysis of the literature, we highlight the most recent epidemiological data and through some case reports we suggest some elements that can help paediatricians to suspect the disease and to facilitate the diagnosis.
Results: Italian incidence of IBD in children is 1.39:100,000 with the peak of incidence between the age of 10 and 12; bloody diarrhoea and abdominal pain for ulcerative colitis and weight loss for Crohn’s disease are the most frequent symptoms at the presentation of the disease.
Conclusions: IBD is a group of frequent diseases and the paediatrician must suspect them even in absence of evident gastrointestinal symptoms.