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Estimated prevalence of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease in Japan in 2014: an analysis of a nationwide survey

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A Correction to this article was published on 23 October 2019

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Abstract

Background

Almost a quarter century has passed since the first nationwide survey on ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) was conducted in Japan. In this study, we used a nationwide survey to estimate the number of patients and prevalence of these diseases in Japan in 2014.

Methods

We conducted a mail-based survey targeting hospitals to estimate the annual numbers of patients with UC and CD in 2014. Respondents were asked to report the numbers of patients who met specific diagnostic criteria for these two conditions. A stratified random sampling method was used, and a total of 3712 departments (internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and pediatric surgery) were selected for analysis. The overall and sex-specific annual numbers of UC and CD patients were estimated. The corresponding prevalence rates per 100,000 population were calculated by dividing the number of patients with each disease by the mid-year population of Japan in 2014.

Results

The overall survey response rate was 56.7% (2016 departments). The estimated numbers of patients with UC and CD were 219,685 (95% confidence interval: 183,968–255,403) and 70,700 (56,702–84,699), respectively. The annual prevalence rates of UC and CD per 100,000 population were 172.9 (men: 192.3; women: 154.5) and 55.6 (men: 79.5; women: 33.1), respectively. These numbers are almost tenfold increase in comparing the previous survey (22,300 in UC and 7,400 in CD). The male-to-female ratios were 1.24 for UC and 2.40 for CD, and the UC-to-CD ratio was 3.11.

Conclusions

The prevalence of UC and CD in Japan has risen substantially over the past two decades, and their disease burden requires further examination.

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Change history

  • 23 October 2019

    The authors would like to correct the errors in the publication of the original article.

Abbreviations

UC:

Ulcerative colitis

CD:

Crohn’s disease

IBD:

Inflammatory bowel disease

CI:

Confidence interval

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants for Research on Intractable Diseases from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H26–28).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Statistics, Toho University, 5-21-16 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 143-8540, Japan

    Yoshitaka Murakami & Mari S. Oba

  2. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuji Nishiwaki & Keiko Asakura

  3. Department of Public Health, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

    Satoko Ohfuji & Wakaba Fukushima

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, Chiba, Japan

    Yasuo Suzuki

  5. Department of Public Health, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan

    Yosikazu Nakamura

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  1. Yoshitaka Murakami
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  2. Yuji Nishiwaki
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  3. Mari S. Oba
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  7. Yasuo Suzuki
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  8. Yosikazu Nakamura
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Correspondence to Yoshitaka Murakami.

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Murakami, Y., Nishiwaki, Y., Oba, M.S. et al. Estimated prevalence of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease in Japan in 2014: an analysis of a nationwide survey. J Gastroenterol 54, 1070–1077 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-019-01603-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-019-01603-8

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