Crohn's disease. Clinical manifestations

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research
• Clinical Epidemiology

Background:

• Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel condition.
• Understanding the long-term clinical course and disease manifestations is crucial for patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the long-term outcomes and characteristics of Crohn's disease patients.
• To identify patterns in disease localization, symptoms, and associated conditions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 214 Crohn's disease patients.
• Longitudinal observation with a mean follow-up of 9 years.
• Data collection on demographics, disease onset, diagnosis delay, localization, symptoms, complications, and extraintestinal manifestations.

Main Results:

• Most patients (65%) experienced initial symptoms between 10-30 years of age.
• Large-bowel involvement was common (82.5%), with 25% having isolated colonic disease.
• Fistulas were more frequent in ileocolic CD, while diarrhea and rectal bleeding were more common in colonic CD.
• Extraintestinal diseases affected 55% of patients, frequently linked to colonic involvement.
• Amyloidosis was diagnosed in 6% of patients, often associated with liver pathology.

Conclusions:

• Crohn's disease presents diverse clinical patterns and long-term sequelae.
• Early diagnosis and management strategies should consider disease localization and potential complications like fistulas and amyloidosis.
• The high prevalence of extraintestinal manifestations underscores the systemic nature of Crohn's disease.