Clustering in time of familial IBD separates ulcerative colitis from Crohn's disease.
BACKGROUND
The aim was to compare clustering of time at diagnosis and phenotype of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) between affected parents and children and to explore generational differences in age at diagnosis (AAD) as well as the concordance of clinical characteristics.


METHODS
Eighty-four affected pairs from 45 families were included from 5 counties in southeastern Norway between August 2003 and December 2006; 43 were sib-sib pairs and 39 parent-child pairs. Clinical data were obtained by phone interviews and by hospital records.


RESULTS
The difference in median AAD was 17.0 years (P < 0.001) and 2.0 years (P = 0.29) in parent-child and sib-sib pairs, respectively. When the time interval between diagnosis in parent and child was split into 2 groups, below and above 5 years, 64% of pairs with ulcerative colitis (UC) offspring were diagnosed within 5 years, compared to 24% of pairs with Crohn's disease (CD) offspring (odds ratio [OR] = 5.7, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4, 23.8). Concordance for smoking habits was low in 26 pairs with mixed disease (κ = 0.15), whereas patients with CD tended to be current smokers.


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the children acquire their disease at an earlier time in life compared to their parents, suggesting genetic anticipation. The time interval between diagnosis of the parents and offspring was lower when the offspring developed UC compared to CD, which might reflect the influence of shared environment on the generational difference in AAD in UC families. This study confirmed the effect of smoking habits on IBD phenotype.
Medical Department, Tonsberg County Hospital, Tonsberg, Norway. trolabe@online.no
May-Bente
MB
Bengtson
Camilla
C
Solberg
Geir
G
Aamodt
Jørgen
J
Jahnsen
Bjørn
B
Moum
Jostein
J
Sauar
Morten H
MH
Vatn
D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult