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Background and Objectives: Adult-onset immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID) increases the risk of several cancers. However, data on pediatric-onset IMID (pIMID) remains scarce. We estimated the long-term cancer risk in pIMID and the association between medical treatment and specific cancers., Methods: We used the nationwide Danish health registers to identify pIMID patients diagnosed from Jan 1, 1980 to Dec 31, 2018. Patients were matched with ten reference individuals based on age, sex, and residence. The primary exposure was pIMID, including autoimmune hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, and connective tissue disease. Secondary exposures were immunomodulators and tumor necrosis factor-α antagonists (anti-TNFα). The primary outcome was cancer. Estimates are presented as hazard ratios adjusted for family income at diagnosis (AHR)., Results: We included 12,664 pIMID patients and 109,274 reference individuals. Median follow-up time was 10.6 (interquartile range: 5.4-17.7) years for patients and 10.2 (interquartile range: 5.2-17.3) years for reference individuals. Patients with pIMID had a twofold higher cancer risk (AHR 2.2 [95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.8-2.6]) compared with reference individuals. Thiopurine treatment was associated with a higher risk of lymphoma (AHR 6.1 [95%CI: 2.2-16.8]) and skin cancer (AHR 6.1 [95%CI: 2.4-15.4]). Anti-TNFα treatment was associated with a higher risk of lymphoma (AHR 4.9 [95%CI: 1.1-22.6])., Conclusions: We found an increased cancer risk in patients with pIMID followed into adulthood. Additionally, thiopurines and anti-TNFα were associated with increased lymphoma and skin cancer risks. This highlights the importance of individualized immunotherapy and cancer surveillance., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Paediatric-onset and elderly-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) present unique treatment challenges., Aims: We investigated treatment patterns following a first and second course of systemic steroids in paediatric- and elderly-onset IBD and compared them to adult-onset IBD., Methods: All patients diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) between 2000 and 2018 were identified through the Danish healthcare registries. Patients were divided into groups based on their age at diagnosis. Kaplan-Meier plots were prepared for medications and surgeries after diagnosis and after the first and second courses of systemic steroids. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multivariate Cox regression analysis for steroid-sparing medications., Results: 1851 CD (13%) and 1687 (6%) UC patients were paediatric-onset, while 2952 (20%) CD and 5812 (23%) UC patients were elderly-onset. Paediatric-onset more frequently received immunomodulators [CD: HR: 1.64, CI: 1.52-1.77, UC: HR: 2.29, CI: 2.02-2.61] and biologics [CD: HR: 1.43, CI: 1.25-1.65, UC: HR: 1.27, CI: 0.99-1.64], while elderly-onset less frequently received immunomodulators [CD: HR: 0.39, CI: 0.35-0.44, UC: HR: 0.58, CI: 0.50-0.67] and biologics [CD: HR: 0.19, CI: 0.14-0.25, UC: HR: 0.36, CI: 0.27-0.48] compared to adult-onset age groups. After two courses of systemic steroids, elderly-onset still received less steroid-sparing medications. High frailty was associated with lower usage of medications for elderly-onset., Conclusion: There are significant differences in the use of steroid-sparing medication between age of onset, even after two courses with systemic steroids. High frailty could account for some of these differences in elderly-onset IBD., (© 2024 The Author(s). Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Paediatric-onset immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (pIMID) show more aggressive phenotypes than when diagnosed in adults. However, data on mortality are often extrapolated from adult studies., Aim: To estimate the effect of pIMID on mortality., Methods: In a population-based cohort study using the nationwide Danish healthcare registers, we included all patients diagnosed with pIMID in Denmark from 1980 to 2018. PIMID were defined as ICD codes indicative of autoimmune hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, lupus erythematosus, or vasculitis registered before age 18 years. All-cause mortality was the primary outcome; cause-specific mortality was the secondary outcome. We used Cox survival analysis to estimate hazard ratios (HR), and Aalen survival analysis to estimate rate differences., Results: We included 11,581 individuals diagnosed with pIMID and 99,665 reference individuals, accounting for 1,371,994 person-years of follow-up. Median and interquartile (IQR) age at diagnosis was 12.6 (7.9-15.9) years. During follow-up, 152 patients with pIMID and 316 reference individuals died; adjusted HR (aHR) was 3.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.1-4.7). This corresponded to 6.9 (95% CI: 5.3-8.5) additional deaths per 10,000 person-years. The strongest associations were found for gastrointestinal diseases (aHR 22.8; 95% CI 9.6-64.1), gastrointestinal cancers (aHR 19.2; 95% CI 5.0-74.2) and lymphoproliferative disorders (aHR 6.8; 95% CI 2.8-16.8)., Conclusion: Patients diagnosed with pIMID have a fourfold higher risk of mortality when followed into early adulthood compared with reference individuals. This underlines the severe disease course of pIMID and highlights the need for multidisciplinary care., (© 2024 The Authors. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background and Aims: Inflammatory bowel diseases [IBD] are heterogeneous in the frequency and severity of their flare-ups. We aimed to describe disease activity patterns in a Danish nationwide paediatric IBD cohort., Methods: Paediatric patients [<18 years at diagnosis] with Crohn's disease [pCD] or ulcerative colitis [pUC] in the study period from 1996 to 2018 were identified in national registers. Disease activity [severe, moderate-to-mild, remission] was assessed at diagnosis according to medications prescribed, hospitalizations, and surgeries., Results: In total, 1965 pCD and 1838 pUC incident patients were included in the cohort. At diagnosis, severe disease activity was found in 87%/80% of pCD/pUC and in addition 6.1% of pUC patients had undergone a colectomy during the first year after diagnosis. Five years after diagnosis, the annual proportions of pCD/pUC with no disease activity were 70%/61%, and 10 years after diagnosis the proportions were 72%/64%. Colectomy was required in 6.1, 12, and 16% of pUC patients after 1, 5 and 10 years. No improvement of disease activity was seen in the proportion of prevalent pCD [N = 2515] and pUC [N = 2428] in the study period 2000-2018 concomitant with the introduction of biological treatment. However, decreasing disease activity was the most common pattern in both pCD and pUC [43 and 47%], respectively., Conclusions: pIBD was characterized by a high proportion of patients with severe activity at diagnosis, followed by an improvement after 5 and 10 years of follow-up. Notably, the proportion of patients with no disease activity was unchanged when biological treatment was introduced and the number of colectomies in pUC remained high., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objectives: To investigate the frequency of psychiatric disorders before and after onset of paediatric-onset immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (pIMID)., Study Design: In a nationwide study from 1996 to 2018, we investigated psychiatric disorders in patients with paediatric-onset inflammatory bowel diseases, autoimmune liver diseases and rheumatic diseases, using Danish national healthcare and population registers. Each case was matched with up to 10 controls from the background population. The cumulative incidence for psychiatric disorders prior to pIMID onset in patients was compared with controls. Cox proportional regression was used to estimate adjusted HRs (aHR) with a 95% CI between cases and controls after the index date., Results: We included 11 208 cases (57% female) and 98 387 controls. The median age at disease onset was 12.5 years (IQR 8-15) and follow-up time 9.8 years (IQR 5-15). We found an association between psychiatric disorders before index date and a diagnosis of subsequent pIMID (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.4). Notably, after index date, cases also had an increased risk (aHR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5 to 1.7) of psychiatric disorders compared with controls. This risk was increased for all groups of psychiatric disorders. Female patients had an increased risk of suicide attempt after index date (aHR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.8)., Conclusion: Patients with pIMID are at increased risk for a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders both before and after onset of pIMID. The results support the need for awareness of psychiatric morbidity in this young patient group and the need for coordinated healthcare for those with comorbid states., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: Pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease (pIBD) increases the risk of developing several different cancer forms. In this case-control study, we aimed to assess the impact of medical treatment and disease activity on the risk of developing disease-associated cancer (DAC) and treatment-associated cancer (TAC)., Methods: In a previous study, we identified 27 cases of DAC (colorectal cancer, small bowel cancer, and cholangiocarcinoma) and 28 TAC (lymphoma and skin cancer) in 6689 patients with pIBD in Denmark and Finland during the period 1992-2015. In this study, the patient charts were reviewed manually. Cancer-free patients from another population-based pIBD cohort were included as controls. We recorded data on phenotype, medical treatment, surgery, and relapses. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) to estimate the relative risk., Results: We included 16 cases with DAC, 21 with TAC, and 331 controls. For DAC, lower frequencies of IBD-relapses were associated with an increased risk of cancer (OR 0.2 [95% CI: 0.04-0.8]). For TAC, we found an increased risk in patients receiving thiopurines at any point during the follow-up period (aOR: 11.7 [95% CI: 2.1-116.2]) and an association with proportion of follow-up time being exposed to thiopurines (aOR 5.6 [95% CI: 1.1-31.5])., Conclusions: In this nation-wide study, covering all pIBD patients from Denmark and Finland, we found that pIBD patients treated with thiopurines had an increased risk of TAC., Competing Interests: O.O. has been PI for projects (unrelated to the present paper) at Karolinska Institutet financed by grants from Janssen, Takeda, AbbVie, Ferring, and Pfizer. Karolinska Institutet has received fees for lectures (OO) and participation on advisory boards (OO) from Janssen, Ferring, Bristol Myers Squibb, Galapagos and Takeda. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 by European Society for European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.)

Objectives: We aimed to identify pre- and perinatal risk factors for developing pediatric-onset immune-mediated inflammatory (pIMID)., Methods: This nation-wide, cohort study included all children born in Denmark from 1994 to 2014 identified from the Danish Medical Birth registry. Individuals were followed through 2014 and cross-linked to the continuously updated national socioeconomic and healthcare registers to obtain data on pre- and perinatal exposures (maternal age, educational level, smoking, maternal IMID, parity, mode of conception and delivery, plurality, child's sex, and birth season). The primary outcome was a pIMID diagnosis (inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or systemic lupus erythematosus) before 18 years of age. Risk estimates were calculated using Cox proportional hazards model and presented by hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI)., Results: We included 1,350,353 children with a follow-up time of 14,158,433 person-years. Among these, 2,728 were diagnosed with a pIMID. We found a higher risk of pIMID in children born to women with a preconception IMID diagnosis (HR: 3.5 [95%CI: 2.7-4.6]), children born by Caesarean section (HR: 1.2 [95%CI: 1.0-1.3]), and among females (1.5 [95%CI: 1.4-1.6]) than among children without these characteristics. Plural pregnancies were associated with a lower risk of pIMID than single pregnancies (HR: 0.7 [95%CI: 0.6-0.9])., Conclusions: Our results indicate a high genetic burden in pIMID but also identifies intervenable risk factors, such as Cesarean section. Physicians should, keep this in mind when caring for high-risk populations and pregnant women previously diagnosed with an IMID., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Incidence rates of inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] reported from developed countries are rising, with some levelling out. The aim of this study was to assess the disease burden of IBD by estimating the incidence and prevalence across age groups and projecting these to 2030 in a high-incidence country., Methods: Using an algorithm [incorporating ICD codes, medications and histopathology], patients [n = 69 862] diagnosed with Crohn's disease [CD] or ulcerative colitis [UC] between 1980 and 2017 were identified in the Danish National Patient Registry and included in a nationwide cohort., Results: From 1980 to 2017 the overall incidence of CD increased from 5.1 [95% CI: 4.5-5.8] to 15.6 [95% CI: 14.6-16.6] per 100 000, while the incidence of UC increased from 6.2 [95% CI: 5.5-6.9] to 27.2 [95% CI: 25.9-28.6] per 100 000. For paediatric-onset CD [pCD], the incidence increased from 1.9 [95% CI: 1.2-2.8] to 9.9 [95% CI: 8.1-11.8] per 100 000 and from 1.8 [95% CI: 1.2-2.8] to 8.7 [95% CI: 7.1- 10.5] per 100 000 for paediatric-onset UC [pUC]. In 2017, the prevalence of CD and UC was 293 [95% CI: 288-297] and 523 [95% CI: 517-528] per 100 000. For pCD and pUC, the prevalence was 35 [95% CI: 31-38] and 28 [95% CI: 26-32] per 100 000., Conclusions: The incidence of paediatric- and adult-onset IBD in Denmark continues to increase and is among the highest in the world., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Recent studies report increased risks of both cancer and mortality in paediatric onset inflammatory bowel disease (pIBD) but the reproducibility of this is unknown., Aim: To estimate the risk of cancer and mortality in the Danish and Finnish pIBD population in a 23-year period compared to the general population., Methods: The pIBD population was defined as individuals registered in the national patient registries with a diagnosis of Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD-unclassified before their 18th birthday from 1992 to 2014. This cohort was cross referenced with the national cancer and mortality registries identifying all pIBD patients who subsequently developed cancer and/ or died and followed up to the end of 2014. Risk estimates are presented as standardised incidence ratios calculated based on incidence figures from the populations., Results: Six thousand six hundred and eight-nine patients with pIBD were identified (median age at follow-up 22.3 years; median follow-up: 9.6 years [interquartile range: 4.8-16.0]). Seventy-two subsequently developed cancer and 65 died. The standardised incidence ratio of cancer in general was 2.6 (95% CI: 1.8-3.7) and 2.5 (95% CI: 1.8-3.4) in CD and UC, respectively. The standardised mortality ratios were 2.2 (95% CI: 1.4-3.4) and 3.7 (95% CI: 2.7-5.0) in CD and UC, respectively. The leading causes for mortality were cancer, suicide and infections., Conclusions: We found an increased risk of cancer and mortality in pIBD. This underlines the importance of cancer surveillance programs and assessment of mental health in the standard of care in adolescent pIBD patients., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Adult and pediatric care have different views and ways of handling the patients and the parents, which may result in insufficient coordination and communication of transfer. The young patient, the parents, the pediatric, and the adult provider constitute four central actors in transition and transfer, and they have different roles, approaches, and needs. Our aim was to clarify the challenges and background for each actor., Materials and Methods: Statements from semistructured interviews of adult gastroenterologists and nurses were analyzed and interpreted by social scientific principles. The interviews were conducted individually, and each interview was completed within 30 min. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and sent to the interviewees for approval., Results: The analysis of the statements included a description of the motives, perspectives, and approaches of the interviewees as well as an exploration and interpretation of the underlying meaning, patterns, and models. The main points of the article are illustrated through excerpts from the interviews and concluded in the recommendations., Conclusion: (I) Pediatricians and adult gastroenterologist need to rethink their view on patients aged 15-20 years and understand that they are different from other patients and do have different demands. (II) Transfer should be considered a three-part process: (a) transition at the pediatric department, (b) a coordinated transfer, and (c) a consolidation phase after transfer. (III) Adolescent patients need proper education and empowerment during transition. (IV) Parents need to be timely prepared including an adjustment and redefinition of their roles.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe surgery rates, complications, and risk of disease recurrence after surgery in paediatric Crohn disease (CD)., Methods: Children <18 years with a diagnosis of CD and a least 1 intestinal resection from the period January 1, 1978 to December 31, 2007 were identified using the Danish National Patient Registry. Patient charts were used to extract data., Results: A total of 115 of 422 children with CD, who had surgery in 2 referral centres, were further studied. Disease extension according to the Montreal classification at the time of operation was available in 106/115 patients: B1, 39/106 (37%); B2, 59/106 (56%); and B3, 8/106 (7%). Before/after surgery 89%/36% of the patients received corticosteroids, 26%/61% azathioprine, and 15%/34% infliximab. Ileocoecal resection was performed in 54 (47%); 17 (15%) underwent ileal resection, 21 (18%) colectomy, 13 (11%) hemicolectomy, and 10 (9%) a combined colonic and ileal resection. Median time from diagnosis to surgery was 23 months (range 0-147). The median follow-up time after surgery was 121 months (16-226), and median time to disease recurrence was 12 months (3-160). The cumulative clinical recurrence rates at 1, 5, and 10 years were 50%, 73%, and 77%, respectively. More than 1 bowel resection was needed in 39%. Postoperative azathioprine treatment did not affect rate of recurrence after surgery., Conclusions: In this large cohort of children with CD studied for >10 years postoperatively, we found a high postoperative recurrence rate of disease and a frequent need for >1 intestinal resection.

Background and Aims: To identify environmental risk factors for developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children <15 years of age., Methods: IBD patients and randomly selected healthy controls from a well defined geographical area in Denmark were prospectively recruited in the period 1.1.2007-31.12.2009. Data regarding socioeconomic status, area of residence, living conditions, infections and diet were obtained by a questionnaire., Results: A total of 118 IBD patients (59 Crohn's disease (CD), 56 ulcerative colitis (UC) and 3 IBD unclassified (IBDU)) and 477 healthy controls filled out the questionnaire. The response rates were 91% in patients and 45% in controls, respectively. Several risk factors for IBD were identified: IBD in first degree relatives (IBD: OR (odds ratio): 6.1 (95%CI: 2.5-15.0), CD (OR: 6.8 (2.3-20.2)) and UC (OR: 6.1 (2.3-16.0))); bedroom sharing (IBD: OR: 2.1 (1.0-4.3), CD (OR: 3.6 (1.3-9.4))); high sugar intake (IBD: OR: 2.5 (1.0-6.2), CD (OR: 2.9 (1.0-8.5))); prior admission to a hospital for gastrointestinal infections (IBD: 7.7 (3.1-19.1), CD (7.9 (2.5-24.9)) and UC (7.4 (2.5-21.6))); stressful events (IBD: 1.7 (1.0-2.9)). Protective factors were daily vs. less than daily vegetable consumption (CD: 0.3 (0.1-1.0), UC (0.3 (0.1-0.8))) and whole meal bread consumption (IBD: OR: 0.5 (0.3-0.9), CD (0.4 (0.2-0.9))). An increased risk of diagnosis of CD compared to UC was shown for patients living in more urban areas (OR: 1.3 (1.1-1.6))., Conclusion: We identified several risk and protective factors for developing IBD. Studies on the influence of environmental factors are important in our understanding of aetiology and phenotypes of paediatric IBD., (Copyright © 2012 European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Few studies have compared phenotype and disease course in children and adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)., Aim:   To compare phenotype, treatment and disease course in children (<15 years) and adults (≥18 years) with IBD., Methods: Two population-based cohorts comprising paediatric (2001-2006) and adult (2003-2004) patients from Copenhagen County and City were studied., Results: Twenty children and 106 adults with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 29 children and 67 adults with Crohn's disease (CD) were included. Median follow-up time was 4.8 years (children) and 5.2 years (adults). Children with UC had more extensive disease compared to adult patients [14 (70%) vs. 20 (19%), P<0.001]. The risks of starting systemic steroid treatment and AZA/MP were higher for paediatric UC patients compared to adult UC patients; hazard ratio (HR): 3.1 (95% CI: 1.8-5.3) and HR: 2.5 (1.3-5-9), respectively. Steroid dependency was more frequent in paediatric than in adult UC patients [9 (45%) vs. 9 (8%), P<0.001]. Mild disease course was less frequent in children with UC compared to adult patients [7 (35%) vs. 76 (72%), P=0.002]. Paediatric and adult CD patients did not differ regarding treatment or disease course. Cumulative 5-year surgery rates for paediatric and adult patients were 5% and 9% for UC (N.S.) and 18% and 21% for CD (N.S.), respectively., Conclusions: Paediatric UC patients had more extensive disease, were more often treated with systemic steroids and AZA, had a higher frequency of steroid dependency and a more severe disease course compared to adult UC patients. No differences were found when comparing paediatric and adult CD patients., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Background & Aims: Data on safety and long-term follow-up evaluation of population-based cohorts of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients treated with infliximab are sparse. The aim of this article is to describe the use of infliximab in a national Danish population-based IBD cohort during 1999-2005., Methods: Medical records of all infliximab-treated IBD patients were scrutinized to abstract information on patient demographics, treatment efficacy, and adverse events., Results: A total of 651 patients (619 with Crohn's disease, 15 with ulcerative colitis, and 17 with colonic IBD type unclassified) received infliximab during 1999-2005. A total of 3351 infusions were administered, with a median of 3 infusions per patient. A positive clinical response was observed in 82.7% (95% confidence interval, 79.9-85.5) of patients. Infusion reactions were observed after 146 of 3351 infusions (4.4%). Significantly fewer infusion reactions were seen in patients also receiving azathioprine or methotrexate (63 of 2079; 3.0%), compared with patients not receiving azathioprine or methotrexate (83 of 1272; 6.5%) (P < .0001). Severe adverse events were observed after 112 of 3351 infusions (3.3%) in a total of 95 patients (14.6%). Four patients developed cancer versus 5.9 expected (standardized incidence ratio, 0.7; 95 confidence interval, 0.2-1.7) and 13 patients died versus 6.9 expected (standardized mortality ratio, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-3.2). Two deaths caused by infections were possibly related to infliximab., Conclusions: Infliximab seemed effective in IBD and generally was well tolerated. However, rare but severe adverse events occurred, and patients receiving infliximab therefore should be selected carefully and monitored closely. No lymphomas and no increased risk of cancer were observed.

Objectives: A continuous increase in the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and indeterminate colitis (IC) has been suggested. Since Denmark provides excellent conditions for epidemiological research, we aimed to describe contemporary IBD incidence rates and patient characteristics in Copenhagen County and City., Methods: All patients diagnosed with IBD during 2003-2005 were followed prospectively. Demographic and clinical characteristics, such as disease extent, extraintestinal manifestations, smoking habits, medical treatment, surgical interventions, cancer, and death, were registered., Results: Five-hundred sixty-two patients were diagnosed with IBD, resulting in mean annual incidences of 8.6/10(5) for CD, 13.4/10(5) for UC, and 1.1/10(5) for IC. Time from onset to diagnosis was 8.3 months in CD and 4.5 months in UC patients. A family history of IBD, smoking, and extraintestinal manifestations was significantly more common in CD than in UC patients. Only 0.6% of UC patients had primary sclerosing cholangitis. In CD, old age at diagnosis was related to pure colonic disease, whereas children significantly more often had proximal and extensive involvement. Twelve percent of CD patients and 6% of UC patients underwent surgery during the year of diagnosis, significantly less than earlier reported., Conclusions: The incidence of IBD in Copenhagen increased noticeably during the last decades. Time from onset of symptoms until diagnosis decreased markedly, extent of CD was related to age at diagnosis, and the risk of surgery was low in UC.

The aim of the study was to assess and compare the IgG seroprevalence of H. pylori in children with recurrent abdominal pain with healthy children and to investigate the related symptoms. IgG antibodies against low-molecular weight H. pylori antigens were assessed in 438 children with recurrent abdominal pain and in 91 healthy controls. Sera with an ELISA unit-value above the cut-off level were confirmed by Western immunoblot. Only seropositive children with recurrent abdominal pain were examined by an oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy. Symptomatology was recorded according to the localization of the abdominal pain, presence of pyrosis, nocturnal pain, relation of pain to meals and bowel irregularities. The seroprevalence was 21% (95% CI: 17-25%) in the children with recurrent abdominal pain and 10% (95% CI: 5-18%) in the healthy controls (p = 0.30). In seropositive children with RAP H. pylori was found in 46/66 by culture and histology. The presence of H. pylori was significantly associated with active or inactive chronic gastritis. The presence of H. pylori was associated with both parents being born in a country with a high prevalence and a low social class. Helicobacter pylori-positive children had more often pain related to meals than the H. pylori-negative children. No differences among the two groups were seen according to the levels of haemoglobin, leucocytes, thrombocytes, weight and height. In conclusion, the seroprevalence of H. pylori is comparable in children with recurrent abdominal pain and healthy children. No specific symptomatology was seen in H. pylori-positive children with RAP.

A regional group of outpatients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, n = 396, and Crohn's disease, n = 125) was biochemically screened to estimate the prevalence of hepatobiliary dysfunction. Among the 396 patients with ulcerative colitis, 69 (17%; 95% confidence limits, 14-22%) had at least 1 abnormal laboratory value. Serum bilirubin was elevated in 5%, alkaline phosphatases in 8%, aspartate aminotransferases in 4%, and alanine aminotransferases in 8% of the patients. Two per cent had decreased plasma coagulation factors (2.7 and 10) and serum albumin. Further diagnositc evaluation consisting of ultrasonography, liver biopsy, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was performed in patients who had biochemical values more than twice the upper normal limit in two consecutive blood tests within a fortnight. Six patients (1%) fulfilled this criterion. Three patients had primary sclerosing cholangitis, of whom two were primarily diagnosed; one patient had cholangiocarcinoma also primarily diagnosed; and two patients were found to have alcoholic hepatic damage. Among the 125 patients with Crohn's disease, 38 (30%; 95% confidence limits, 23-38%) had at least 1 abnormal laboratory value. Serum bilirubin was elevated in 2%, alkaline phosphatases in 18%, asparetate aminotransferases in 3%, and alanine aminotransferases in 10% of the patients. One per cent had decreased plasma coagulation factors (2.7 and 10) and serum albumin concentrations. Three patients (2%) fulfilled the criteria for further evaluation as described above. One patient appeared to have epithelioid granuloma in the liver and one patient had alcoholic liver disease, whereas one patient refused further examination.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)