Age-related Differences in the Clinical Course of Crohn’s Disease in an Asian Population: A Retrospective Cohort Review.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with young- and adult-onset Crohn’s disease. Among 79 consecutive Crohn’s disease patients (11 (13.92%) with onset ≤16 years old), young-onset Crohn’s disease was significantly associated with fever(36.36 vs. 14.71%, P 0.041), weight loss (72.7 vs. 29.4%, P 0.003), isolated abdominal pain (45.45 vs. 16.18%, P 0.013), lower body mass index ( 17.32 vs. 21.29 kg/m2, P 0.019), and extra-intestinal manifestation, particularly oral (45.5% vs. 22.1%, P 0.049) and perianal lesion (63.6% vs. 36.8%, P 0.046). In both groups, ileocolonic disease and inflammatory lesion were the most prevalent site of involvement and dominant disease behavior respectively. Their complication and bowel resection rate were similar but the former took a longer period of time to develop in the young-onset group (84 vs 24 month, P 0.018). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that active smoking and delayed use of immuno-suppressive therapy were the only independent risk factors associated with increased risk of complications.