Prevalence and clinical features of indeterminate colitis in Mexico: a 17-year study.

Background: Indeterminate Colitis (IC) is diagnosed after colectomy when macroscopic and microscopic features were not sufficient to allow a definite diagnosis of either the classical types of Ulcerative Colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD). Epidemiological data from some series have reported that IC is diagnosed in between 9% and 20% of colectomy specimens.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of IC in Mexican patients and to describe their clinical features.

Material And Methods: We carried out a retrospective database analysis of all patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who underwent colectomy between January of 1990 and December of 2006. Demographic data, clinical, laboratory, and histopathological results were analyzed.

Results: We found 80 patients in the database who had undergone total colectomy whose average age was 44.8 years. IC was found in 7 patients (8.7%) from colectomy specimens among Mexican patients with IBD, with a mean age at diagnosis of 33.6 years. Subgroup analysis showed that a younger age at diagnosis and toxic megacolon were factors of statistical significance associated with IC.

Conclusions: The prevalence of IC was 8.7% in our group. A younger age of onset and toxic megacolon were the most important associated factors in patients with IC.