Jakobsen C, Paerregaard A, Munkholm P et al. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2009;21:1291–301.
Using a population-based database, Jakobsen et al. evaluated the incidence of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease in patients aged <15 years during two time periods (1962–1987 and 1998–2006). Changes in disease localization, disease activity, and prognosis between the two time-periods were also evaluated. The investigators found that the incidence of Crohn’s disease increased whereas that of UC plateaued. These findings are similar to those of other published studies.
The incidence and phenotype of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis among children aged <15 years through two different periods, 1962–1987 (period I) and 1998–2006 (period II), in Denmark were compared in this investigation. The advantage of this study is that the investigators had the ability to tap into a population-based database and hence produce robust epidemiological data.