Epidemiologic Characteristics of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Kermanshah, Iran

BACKGROUND: This study was done to define some epidemiological aspects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and to describe its characteristics in west of Iran. METHODS: In this descriptive study all patient with the diagnosis of IBD who were visited in university‐affiliated medical centers, between 2014 and 2015 were recruited. Their demographic characteristics, disease-related manifestations, complications, disease course and their chief complaints were analyzed. RESULTS: Of 156 referred individuals, 153 patients had ulcerative colitis (UC) and 3 patients had Crohn’s diseases (CD). The mean age of the patients at diagnosis was 35.69±12.35 (range: 17-80) years with the most common age group of 25-35 years and slight female predominance (51.9%). More urban patients were registered (90.4%) and 57% had high school or upper education. Positive family history of the disease was in 25.6% and 66.6% had four or more family members. Furthermore, 51.9% had left sided colitis and 40.4% had pancolitis with bloody diarrhea (79.5%) and abdominal pain (68.6%) as the most common manifestations. 36.5% had other autoimmune diseases. Multiple flare was seen in 47.4%, most commonly due to drug discontinuation (26.28%). Hospital admission was reported in 34.6%. History of contraceptive pill use was in 38.8% of the female patients. CONCLUSIONS: The demographic and clinical manifestations of IBD are usually the same as other developing countries; however, the rarity of CD is eminent. Although the accurate epidemiological characteristic of IBD in Iran is still obscure, it is not a rare disease as previously thought and it seems that gradual reception of a western lifestyle may be linked to the ongoing rise in IBD.