title: Seasonal pattern of onset in lymphocytic colitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The etiology of lymphocytic colitis, a microscopic colitis syndrome, has remained elusive. Because 1) many infectious enteritides exhibit seasonal variability in incidence and 2) a few investigators have proposed some infectious mechanism in lymphocytic colitis, our aim was to determine if any variability in symptom onset existed among lymphocytic colitis patients diagnosed at our institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 71 nonduplicated, consecutive patients with lymphocytic colitis over a 4-year period using rigorous clinicopathologic inclusion criteria: 1) chronic watery diarrhea, 2) endoscopically normal colon, 3) no evidence for celiac sprue or drug-induced colitis, 4) diffuse colitis with increased intraepithelial lymphocytes of at least 10 lymphocytes per 100 epithelial cells, 5) evidence of surface epithelial damage, and 6) no significant neutrophilic infiltrates, architectural distortion of the mucosa, or subepithelial collagen deposits. The date of diagnosis was corrected for month of onset of symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The distribution of month of onset of symptoms showed a statistically significant (chi test of homogeneity, P = 0.0008) temporal variability and seasonal incidence pattern with excess cases during summer and fall and a paucity of cases during colder months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine systematically and report a significant seasonal incidence pattern of lymphocytic colitis. Our observations may support a potential link to an infectious source in lymphocytic colitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Vermont College of Medicine, 89 Beaumont Avenue, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
authors.forename: P Rocco
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: LaSala
authors.forename: Adam B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Chodosh
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vecchio
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Schned
authors.forename: Hagen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blaszyk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D046730:Colitis, Lymphocytic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012621:Seasons; D014707:Vermont / Q000453:epidemiology