Iveta Čierna, Renata Szépeová, Iveta Valachová, Emeše Majorová
Introduction and aim of the study: The aim of the study was to find out the occurrence of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in children in Slovakia as well as to find out their incidence and prevalence. Data on occurrence of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn´s disease (CD) in children in Slovakia have not been collected so far. To get the complex picture of occurrence of chronic inflammatory diseases in children in Slovakia the following tasks have been established: 1. find out the incidence and prevalence of UC and CD in children population, evaluate differences between gender and age at which the disease was manifested, 2. focus on geographical spread of the occurrence of diseases. Patients and methods: The cohort involved children (from 0 to 18 years of age) with diagnosed UC and CD. Data were collected by a questionnaire from 20 pediatric gastroenterologists from various regions of Slovakia. Results: On basis of elaborated data to December 31, 2003 134 children with UC (62 boys, 72 girls) and 166 children with CD (92 boys, 74 girls) at the age from 0 to18 yrs. were recorded. Mean age at which UC was manifested was 11.68 ± 0.36 SEM of year (from 4 months to 18 years, median 12 years), CD 12.38 ± 0.27 SEM of year (from 4 months to 18 years, median 13 years). In the years 2001 - 2003 20 - 26 new cases of UC were diagnosed and CD was diagnosed in 22 - 28 children. Incidence of UC in Slovakia in the mentioned period of time was 1.63 - 2.12 per 100 000 inhabitants, CD 1.79 - 2.28 per 100 000 inhabitants. Prevalence of UC to December 31, 2003 was 10.94 (the highest prevalence in Trnava region) and CD 13.55 per 100 000 inhabitants (the highest prevalence in Bratislava region). Conclusion: The occurrence of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases is not rare even in children. We have observed increasing incidence and increased prevalence of UC and CD.