Referral Epidemiology of Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease in Kaunas Region, Lithuania: One Year Prospective Study
INTRODUCTION: Lithuania is the part of northern - eastern Europe with relatively homogeneous population according to nationality (>90% of Lithuanians in Kaunas region). Prevalence and incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been never studied in this region and never compared to other European countries. Obtaining particular data was of great interest knowing that economical development was very rapid in recent 15 years and environmental factors have changed significantly. AIMS & METHODS: All gastroenterologists in Kaunas region participated in the prospective study. All IBD patients who applied to the specialist during year 2006 were registered and information put in to uniform database. Diagnoses were made according standard criteria, combining clinical, endoscopic, radiologic and histological data. Patients with indeterminate colitis were excluded. RESULTS: According to national population registry (2004) Kaunas region has 445737 (360637 urban and 85100 rural) inhabitants. During 2006 totally 170 IBD patients cases were registered and referral prevalence was 38.13 /100000. Majority of cases were ulcerative colitis (UC) 145 (85, 3%), with prevalence of 32.5 /100000, while prevalence of Crohnâ s disease was 5.6/100000. Sixty two new IBD cases were diagnosed, majority (52) being UC. Incidence of UC and Crohnâ s disease was 11.89/100000 and 2.01/100000, respectively. Patients with Crohnâ disease were significantly younger then UC patients: 43.2917.01 vs. 53.2615.02 (p<0.01). Mean age at the onset of Crohnâ s disease was 37.020.5 compared to 55.617,46 years of UC patients (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Incidence of UC in Kaunas region, Lithuania is approximately the same as reported in most Western industrialized countries, though incidence of Crohnâ s disease is still low.