INCIDENCE AND PREVALENCE OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE IN CHILDREN INSOUTH-WESTERN SWEDEN

The incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease were estima ted in all children less than 16 years of age living in the city of Go teborg and in three counties in South-Western Sweden, from 1983 to 198 7. One hundred and thirty-two patients were classified according to se t criteria into one of four diagnostic categories: ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, probable Crohn's disease and indeterminate colitis. The crude incidence of inflammatory bowel disease was 5.3 per 100 000 children per year and the prevalence 21.5 per 100 000 children. This s tudy lends support to the hypothesis that Crohn's disease has increase d among Swedish children. Crohn's disease now appears to be at least a s common as ulcerative colitis. Thirty-five of 55 patients first class ified as indeterminate colitis or probable Crohn's disease later fulfi lled the criteria of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease during a me an follow-up period of 4.6 years. This study emphasizes the importance , in epidemiological studies of inflammatory bowel disease, of includi ng those cases where a definite diagnosis of ulcerative colitis or Cro hn's disease cannot be established initially and of re-evaluating the initial diagnosis regularly.