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Characteristics of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Korea: Comparison with EUROKIDS Data
Hyeon Ah Lee1, Jung Yoon Suk1, Sung Youn Choi1
1Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Insights
Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) shows distinct characteristics in Korean children compared to European populations. This study highlights differences in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis presentation, informing global IBD research.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology
- Pediatrics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) incidence is rising globally.
- Most data on pediatric IBD characteristics originate from Western countries.
- Limited information exists on the specific clinical features of IBD in Korean children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the clinical characteristics of pediatric IBD in Korea.
- To compare these characteristics with data from the European Multicenter Study of Children with New-Onset IBD (EUROKIDS registry).
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of medical records for children diagnosed with IBD between July 1987 and January 2012 at five Korean university hospitals.
- Comparison of clinical data with the EUROKIDS registry.
- Analysis included Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) patient cohorts.
Main Results:
- The study included 30 children with CD and 33 with UC.
- Korean pediatric IBD patients exhibited a significant male predominance compared to the EUROKIDS group (CD: 86.7% vs 59.2%; UC: 75.8% vs 50%).
- Korean pediatric CD patients showed a higher prevalence of terminal ileal and perianal disease, while Korean pediatric UC patients had a higher prevalence of proctitis than their European counterparts.
Conclusions:
- The clinical characteristics of pediatric IBD patients in Korea differ from those in European populations.
- These findings underscore the need for geographically specific research in pediatric IBD.
- Further investigation into regional variations in IBD is warranted.
Background/Aims:
Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been increasing worldwide. The characteristics of pediatric-onset IBD have mainly been reported in Western countries. We investigated the clinical characteristics of pediatric IBD in Korea and compared these with the data from the 5-year European multicenter study of children with new-onset IBD (EUROKIDS registry).
Methods:
Children who were diagnosed with IBD between July 1987 and January 2012 were investigated at five Korean university hospitals. Their clinical characteristics were retrospectively evaluated by medical record review. The results were compared with the EUROKIDS data.
Results:
A total of 30 children with Crohn's disease (CD) and 33 children with ulcerative colitis (UC) were enrolled. In comparison with the EUROKIDS group, Korean pediatric IBD patients showed a male predominance (86.7% vs 59.2%, p=0.002 in CD; 75.8% vs 50%, p=0.003 in UC). Korean pediatric CD patients had a higher prevalence of terminal ileal disease (36.7% vs 16.3%, p=0.004) and perianal disease (33.3% vs 8.2%, p<0.001) than patients in the EUROKIDS group. Korean pediatric UC patients had a higher prevalence of proctitis than patients in the EUROKIDS group.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that the characteristics of Korean pediatric IBD patients and European pediatric IBD patients may be different.
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