title: Clinical features and long-term prognosis of Crohn's disease in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent studies have suggested that the clinical characteristics and genetic background of Crohn's disease (CD) patients differ between Asian and Caucasian individuals. However, the clinical features and course of CD in Asian patients remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the clinical features and long-term prognosis of CD in a Korean population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed 278 Korean patients with CD first diagnosed at the Asan Medical Center between March 1991 and February 2007.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The male-to-female ratio was 2.2:1 and the median age at diagnosis was 23 years. The median duration of follow-up was 71 months (range, 1-210 months). At diagnosis, 187 patients (67.3%) had disease in both small bowel and colon, 68 (24.4%) had isolated small bowel disease, and 23 (8.3%) had isolated colonic disease. The number of patients with stricturing or penetrating behavior as defined by the Montreal classification increased from 87 (31.3%) at diagnosis to 141 (50.7%) at final evaluation. One hundred and thirty patients (46.8%) experienced perianal fistulas before and/or after diagnosis of CD. A total of 71 patients (25.5%) underwent intestinal resection and the cumulative probability of intestinal resection after 1, 5, and 10 years was 15.5%, 25.0%, and 32.8%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Korean CD patients differed from Western patients in gender distribution, disease location, and perianal fistula occurrence. Korean CD patients may also have better clinical courses than Western patients, as indicated by the lower intestinal resection rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byong Duk
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Suk-Kyun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yun Kyung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sang Hyoung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Dong-Hoon
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Soon Man
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Kyung Jo
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jeong-Sik
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Byeon
authors.forename: Seung-Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Myung
authors.forename: Chang Sik
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jin-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003082:Colectomy; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012003:Rectal Fistula / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution