Clinical Presentation and Five-Year Therapeutic Management of Very Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease in a Large North American Cohort

Objective To evaluate the presentation, therapeutic management, and long-term outcome of children with very early-onset (VEO) (≤5 years of age) inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Study design Data were obtained from an inception cohort of 1928 children with IBD enrolled in a prospective observational registry at multiple centers in North America. Results One hundred twelve children were ≤5 years of age with no child enrolled at P = .04), and 11- to 16-year-olds (22.3%, P P = .01). Five years postdiagnosis, there was no difference in disease activity among the 3 groups. However, compared with the oldest group, a greater proportion of 1- to 5-year-olds with CD were receiving corticosteroids ( P P P P Conclusions Children with VEO-CD are more likely to have mild disease at diagnosis and present with a colonic phenotype with change to an ileocolonic phenotype noted at 6-10 years of age. Five years after diagnosis, children with VEO-CD and VEO-UC are more likely to have been administered corticosteroids and immunomodulators despite similar disease activity in all age groups. This may suggest development of a more aggressive disease phenotype over time.