Approximately 0.5% of the Canadian population has IBD

[Guest guest]

I was really surprised at the conclusion in this article that

approximately 0.5% of the Canadian population has IBD:

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The American Journal of Gastroenterology

Online Early

doi:10.1111/j.1572-0241.2006.00603.x

The Epidemiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Canada: A

Population-Based Study

N. Bernstein, M.D.1,2, Andre Wajda, M.S.1, Lawrence W.

Svenson, B.Sc.4, MacKenzie, B.Sc.6, Mieke Koehoorn, Ph.D.7,

Maureen , M.Sc.9, Fedorak, M.D.5, Israel,

M.D.8, and F. Blanchard, M.D., Ph.D.1,3

BACKGROUND: Previously, we have demonstrated a high incidence and

prevalence of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in

the Canadian province of Manitoba. However, the epidemiology of

inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in other regions of Canada has not

been defined. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence

and prevalence of CD and UC in diverse regions of Canada and the

overall burden of IBD in Canada.

METHODS: We applied a common case identification algorithm,

previously validated in Manitoba to the provincial health databases

in British Columbia (BC), Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK), Manitoba

(MB), and Nova Scotia (NS) to determine the age-adjusted incidence

rates per 100,000 person-years for 1998–2000 and prevalence per

100,000 for mid 2000 and to estimate the IBD burden in Canada.

Poisson regression was used to assess differences in incidence rates

and prevalence by gender, age, and province.

RESULTS: The incidence rate for CD ranged from 8.8 (BC) to 20.2

(NS), and for UC ranged from 9.9 (BC) to 19.5 (NS). The prevalence

of CD was approximately 15- to 20-fold higher than the incidence

rate, ranging from 161 (BC) to 319 (NS). This was similar for the

prevalence of UC, which ranged from 162 (BC) to 249 (MB). Adjusting

for age and province, the female:male ratio for incidence ratio was

1.31 (p< 0.0001) for CD and 1.02 (n.s.) for UC and was mostly stable

across the five provinces.

CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 0.5% of the Canadian population has IBD.

Canada has the highest incidence and prevalence of CD yet reported.

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The estimated Canadian population is 32,563,581 so this means that

about 162,818 Canadians have IBD! If half of these have UC, and

about 5% of those with UC develop PSC, this means that the potential

PSC/UC patient population in Canada is approximately 4,000. Yikes!

Dave

(father of (21); PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)