Epidemiological aspects of inflammatory bowel disease in an Algerian population

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and unclassified colitis. Described initially in the US and northern Europe, IBD is currently known to occur in the other parts of the world. Objectives: The objectives of our work were to determine the indicators of morbidity from IBD in a targeted population and to describe its clinico-anatomical features. Patients and methods: This is a prospective observational descriptive study of all adult patients, permanent residents of Constantine, consulted for the first time in the Department of Gastroenterology at the University Hospital between January 2003 and December 2007, for symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of IBD. Results: Two hundred ninety-nine cases of IBD were registered, including 180 cases of Crohn's patients (60.20%), 100 cases of ulcerative colitis (33.44%) and 19 unclassified 100,000 inhabitants) was 5.87 for Crohn's disease and 3.29 for ulcerative colitis. The peak incidence of Crohn's disease was 21.21 in the age group 35-39 years, and that of ulcerative colitis was 17.34 in the age group 50-54 years. The female/male sex ratio was <INS1.11 for Crohn's disease and 1. 27 for ulcerative colitis. The median age at initial diagnosis was 36 years for Crohn's disease and 42 years for ulcerative colitis. Our series is characterized by the high frequency locations ileocaecal and ileal in their pure forms stenosing for CD and the partial forms of colonic UC. Conclusion: This study has identified some epidemiological and clinico-pathological features of IBD in the population of Constantine and the need for the establishment of a local circuit of care for these patients. Overall in Algeria, the average annual incidence rate of IBD is increasing, placing our country among the impact zone. Our findings need to be confirmed by long-term multicenter studies and by the establishment of a national registry of chronic inflammatory bowel disease.