Pediatric Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease in a German Statutory Health INSURANCE-Incidence Rates From 2009 to 2012.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD) varies over time and geographic region. We attempted to generate incidence rates form German health insurance data. METHODS: We used health care data for 2009-2015 provided by BARMER, a major statutory health insurance company in Germany, insuring approximately 8% of the pediatric population. We applied a Canadian case definition for PIBD based on International Classification of Diseases coding, documentation of (ileo)colonoscopy and the number of PIBD related visits, without external validation for Germany. An internal validation of the specificity of the diagnosis by checking whether the identified incident cases had also prescriptions of PIPD specific drugs was performed. RESULTS: In 2012, 187 pediatric patients were newly diagnosed, accounting for an overall PIBD incidence of 17.41 (95% CI 15.08-20.10) per 100,000 insured children and adolescents from 0 to 17.9 years per year compared with 13.65/100,000 (95% CI 11.63-16.01) in 2009. The age-specific incidence showed a steep increase as of the age of 7 years. The PIBD prevalence in 2012 was 66.29/100,000. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the incidence of PIBD in 0 to 17.9-year-olds in Germany with health BARMER health insurance in 2012 is among the highest reported in the literature.