Epidemiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Iran: A review of 803 cases

Aim: To gain recent characteristic information about inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Iran. Background : Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was believed to be infrequent in Iran; however, during the recent years its prevalence has been continuing in our country. Patients and Method: Between 1992 and 2007, a total of 803 IBD patients (671 ulcerative colitis (UC), 109 Crohn's disease (CD) and 23 indeterminate colitis (IC)) referred to our research centre. We evaluated the demographic data, extraintestinal manifestations, chief complaints and extension of disease in this group of patients. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 33.01, 33.18, and 34.52 years in UC, CD, and IC patients, respectively. The male to female ratio was 0.78 for UC patients while it was 1.18 in CD patients. Patients with UC chiefly presented by hematochezia (54.24%), whereas those with CD and IC complained of abdominal pain (55.96% and 47.82%, respectively). Totally, 67.51% UC patients, 70.64% CD patients and 73.90% IC patients reported extra intestinal manifestations. The most involved section was left colon in UC (90.49%) and colon in CD patients (75%). Conclusion: The demographic and clinical picture of IBD is more or less the same as other developing countries; however, the rarity of CD in Iran is noted. Although the true epidemiologic profile of IBD in Iran is still unknown, it is not as rare as previously thought and it seems as if gradual adoption of a western lifestyle may be associated with continuing rise in IBD.