title: Incidence of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in Danish children: Still rising or levelling out?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the development in incidence and prevalence of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Eastern Denmark during a six-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients <15 years with IBD in Eastern Denmark in the two following periods were included: 1) 1.1.1998-31.12.2000 and 2) 1.1.2002-31.12.2004. The mean background population (children <15 years) in Eastern Denmark was 421,898 persons in period 1 and 439,443 persons in period 2. Patients were identified using the ICD-10 classification (DK500-519). The following data were extracted from the files: diagnosis, change in diagnosis, age at diagnosis, localisation, extra-intestinal symptoms, surgery and county of residence. Incidence and prevalence for ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn's disease (CD) and indeterminate colitis (IC) were calculated per 100,000 children <15 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  98 patients (50 UC, 44 CD, 4 IC), median age 9.8 years (range 2-14) and 12.8 (range 0.5-14) for UC and CD, respectively, were identified in period 1. In the second period 145 patients (70 UC, 64 CD, 11 IC) were included with a median age of 11 years (range 1-14) and 12.5 (range 0.5-14) for UC and CD, respectively. The prevalence of IBD was 15.8 and 20.3 in 1998-2000 and 2002-2004, respectively. The incidence of IBD was 4.3 (UC: 1.8; CD: 2.3; IC: 0.2) and 6.1 (UC: 2.6; CD: 3.1; IC: 0.3), respectively, for the two periods (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study we found an insignificant increase in the incidence of both CD and UC, indicating that the previously reported rising incidence might be levelling out.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hvidovre Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
authors.forename: Vibeke
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wewer
authors.forename: Frederikke
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Urne
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faerk
authors.forename: Iza
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Bent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stagegaard
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pilgaard
authors.forename: Birgitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weile
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paerregaard