Epidemiological characteristics of Asian children with inflammatory bowel disease at diagnosis: Insights from an Asian-Pacific multi-centre registry network

Abstract

BACKGROUND There remains a dearth of Asian epidemiological literature for paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD). AIM To describe the presenting features of PIBD from 7 Asia-Pacific pediatric gastroenterology centers via a central standardised electronic data platform. METHODS Clinical, endoscopic and radiologic data at diagnosis from the registry were extracted between 1 st January 1995 to 31 st December 2019. Disease phenotypic characteristics were classified as per the Paris classification system. RESULTS There was a distinct rise in new PIBD cases: Nearly half (48.6%) of the cohort was diagnosed in the most recent 5 years (2015-2019). The ratio of Crohn’s disease (CD):Ulcerative colitis (UC):IBD-Unclassified was 55.9%:38.3%:5.8%. The mean age was 9.07 years with a high proportion of very early onset IBD (VEO-IBD) (29.3%) and EO-IBD (52.7%). An over-representation of the Indian/South Asian ethnic group was observed which accounted for 37.0% of the overall Singapore/Malaysia subcohort (6.8%-9.0% Indians in census). Indian/South Asian CD patients were also most likely to present with symptomatic perianal disease ( P = 0.003). CD patients presented with significantly more constitutional symptoms (fever, anorexia, malaise/fatigue and muscle-wasting) than UC and higher inflammatory indices (higher C-reactive protein and lower albumin levels). CONCLUSION We observed a high incidence of VEO-IBD and an over-representation of the Indian ethnicity. South Asian CD patients were more likely to have symptomatic perianal disease.

Quality of life in Malaysian children with inflammatory bowel disease: An understudied population

“…12 The incidence of childhood IBD is rising rapidly in many industrialised and affluent areas in the Asia-Pacific region, including Southeast Asia. 13,14 To date, no similar study evaluating HRQoL in childhood IBD from Southeast Asia has been undertaken. The current study aimed to evaluate the HRQoL in Malaysian children with IBD using the IMPACT-III questionnaire.…”

“…The incidence of childhood IBD is rising rapidly in many industrialised and affluent areas in the Asia‐Pacific region, including Southeast Asia 13,14 . To date, no similar study evaluating HRQoL in childhood IBD from Southeast Asia has been undertaken.…”

Multicenter registry of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease from a developing country

“…Data from the multinational collaborative studies to define the characteristics and courses of PIBD children in 6 Asian countries (Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand) have been reported [ 4 ]. One of the main findings was that PIBD children from the cohort were diagnosed earlier than children residing in Europe and Israel from the EUROKIDS registry (7.7 vs. 12.5 years in CD and 10.2 vs. 11.6 years in UC, respectively) [ 5 , 6 ].…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, only one report on PIBD in Thailand was published in 2006 [ 10 ]. In addition, only one center in Thailand participated in the recent Asian PIBD study group [ 4 ].…”

Asia‐Pacific's first position papers on pediatric inflammatory bowel disease: Tackling unique challenges in the region

“…1,2 Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) prevalence is on the rise in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. 3 While pediatric IBD guidelines exist in the West, such as those from the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) 4 and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) 5 ; and some exist for adult IBD in APAC, such as the Asian Organization for Crohn's and Colitis (AOCC) guidelines, dedicated guidance for pediatric IBD patients in the East have been lacking, until now.…”