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Long-term outcomes of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease
Soheila Nasiri1, Mary Ellen Kuenzig2, Eric I Benchimol3
1Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, CHEO Inflammatory Bowel Disease Centre, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, Canada K1H 8L1.
Insights
Childhood-onset inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are increasing globally. This review examines long-term outcomes for pediatric IBD patients, including surgery, remission, mental health, growth, cancer risk, and mortality.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Chronic Disease Management
Background:
- Childhood-onset inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, show rising incidence and prevalence globally.
- IBD is a chronic, incurable pediatric condition requiring lifelong management, necessitating understanding of long-term outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current knowledge on the long-term outcomes of pediatric IBD.
- To highlight key areas including surgical needs, disease remission/recurrence, psychosocial well-being, educational attainment, growth, cancer risk, and mortality.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of current knowledge and research on pediatric IBD long-term outcomes.
- Synthesis of findings related to disease behavior, patient well-being, and survival.
Main Results:
- Pediatric IBD requires lifelong therapy with significant long-term implications.
- Key outcomes include surgical intervention, disease recurrence, impaired growth, mental health challenges, educational impacts, increased cancer risk, and mortality.
- Research is emerging on predictors of negative long-term outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Understanding long-term outcomes is crucial for counseling families and guiding treatment for pediatric IBD.
- Further research is needed to predict and mitigate adverse long-term sequelae in children with IBD.
Abstract:
The incidence and prevalence of childhood-onset inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including subtypes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, have risen dramatically in recent years, and have emerged globally as important pediatric chronic diseases. Therefore, health care providers are more frequently encountering very young children with IBD, a chronic and incurable condition requiring life-long therapy. These children are living long lives with IBD and therefore knowledge of long-term outcomes is increasingly important to better counsel families and determine the best course of treatment. This review summarizes the current knowledge and literature surrounding long-term outcomes of pediatric IBD, with emphasis on the following areas: need for surgery due to complicated disease behavior, risk of disease remission and recurrence, mental health and psychosocial well-being, educational outcomes, linear growth impairment, cancer risk, and mortality. In addition, we review recent research about predicting negative long-term outcomes in children with IBD.
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