title: Crohn's disease in the elderly: Clinical presentation and manifestations from a tertiary referral center in Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is no precise consensus at present on age to define elderly patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but recently, age of more than 60 years has been widely accepted. Characteristics of IBD in the elderly are somewhat different from what is seen in younger patients. The elderly have milder disease activity, and therapeutic options are fewer because of their age and features such as comorbidities, drug interactions, and loss of organ function. There are few reports on Crohn's disease in the elderly. Herein, first report on this topic with respect to population of this country is presented.
  
  
  METHODS
  Characteristics of 95 patients with Crohn's disease, who were over age 60 from 3125 patients with IBD treated in our clinic between 1996 and 2015 were analyzed. Research was performed using patient files, and outpatient clinic visits, when possible.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median age of the group was 66 years, and male:female ratio was 1.6. Of the total, 48.4% of the patients had colonic disease, 37.9% had ileocolonic disease, and 13.7% had small bowel disease. Data indicated that 23.1% of patients had undergone surgical procedures, which were primarily right hemicolectomy and ileotransversostomy. Disease was most often managed with mesalazine or azathioprine. It was also determined that 12.6% patients had 2 or more comorbidities, and findings indicated coronary heart disease and hypertension were most prevalent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analysis revealed similar features in characteristics of disease compared with recent knowledge reported in the literature. This is the first report from our country to describe Crohn's disease in the elderly population, and the number of patients is sufficient to provide general information about this group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saygili
authors.affiliation: Department of Reanimation and Intensive Care, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Saba Mukaddes
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Saygili
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilyas
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tenlik
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mahmut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yuksel
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zeki Mesut Yalin
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Kilic
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yasemin Ozderin
authors.initials: YO
authors.lastname: Ozin
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ertugrul
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kayacetin
keywords: Crohn’s disease; clinical features; elderly