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Effects of family history on inflammatory bowel disease characteristics in Japanese patients

  • Original Article—Alimentary Tract
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Abstract

Background

Although the prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is reported to have reached a plateau in Western countries, it is increasing in Asia. The etiology of IBD is still under investigation. We performed an epidemiological study to clarify the characteristics of IBD in Japan, focusing on patients’ family history.

Methods

We obtained clinical data on ulcerative colitis (UC) (46,114 cases) and Crohn’s disease (CD) (11,305 cases) in 2007 from an electronic database maintained under the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s nationwide registry system, and analyzed the differences in disease characteristics between patients with IBD who had a family history of the disease and those who did not.

Results

A total of 2.7% of the patients with UC and 2.6% of those with CD had a family history. The present age and age at disease onset were lower among the patients with UC who had a family history than among those without (present age: p < 0.001; age at disease onset: p < 0.001; Mann–Whitney U-test), but no similar trend was observed in the patients with CD. Disease severity was worse among both the UC and CD patients with a family history. The clinical course of patients with UC was not affected by family history. Levels of independence in daily life were associated with family history among CD patients, whereas age was associated with levels of independence in daily life among UC patients.

Conclusion

Disease characteristics of IBD vary in some aspects according to the presence or absence of a family history.

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Acknowledgments

The members of this Japanese IBD Research Group were organized by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. This work was supported in part by Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants for Research on Intractable Diseases from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Erika Kuwahara, Keiko Asakura & Toru Takebayashi

  2. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Nagamu Inoue & Toshifumi Hibi

  3. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

    Mamoru Watanabe

  4. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuji Nishiwaki

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  1. Erika Kuwahara
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  2. Keiko Asakura
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  3. Yuji Nishiwaki
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  4. Nagamu Inoue
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  5. Mamoru Watanabe
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Correspondence to Erika Kuwahara.

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Kuwahara, E., Asakura, K., Nishiwaki, Y. et al. Effects of family history on inflammatory bowel disease characteristics in Japanese patients. J Gastroenterol 47, 961–968 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-012-0558-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-012-0558-3

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