Special clinical characteristics and outcomes in Chinese pediatric patients with early‐onset Crohn's disease.

Objective: To study the clinical and nutritional characteristics of early‐onset Crohn's disease (EO‐CD) in China. Methods: Patients were defined as having EO‐CD (age at diagnosis <10 y) or late‐onset Crohn's disease (LO‐CD; age at diagnosis of 10‐17 y). Their characteristics, clinical, and nutritional data were collected at baseline and at each follow‐up visit. Statistical analyses were used to compare differences in both groups. Results: From July 1993 to February 2017, of the 137 children enrolled, 68 (49.6%) had EO‐CD and 69 (50.4%) had LO‐CD. More patients with EO‐CD than those with LO‐CD presented with diarrhea, hematochezia, growth delay, anemia and skin disease, and had higher pediatric Crohn's disease activity index scores at diagnosis (all P < 0.05). Fewer patients with EO‐CD achieved their first remission (42.6% vs 76.8%, P < 0.0001) during follow‐up. Patients with EO‐CD required a longer treatment time to reach remission (P = 0.0049) and had a higher mortality rate (P = 0.0133), as well as lower height and weight percentiles (P = 0.0200 and 0.0288, respectively), hemoglobin (P = 0.0185) and albumin levels (P = 0.0002), zinc (P = 0.0024) and iron (P = 0.0110) concentrations in blood at diagnosis. Conclusion: The EO‐CD group had worse clinical outcomes and nutritional status than the LO‐CD group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]