The trend in newly diagnosed Crohn's disease and extraintestinal manifestations of Crohn's disease in central China: a retrospective study of a single center.

Background And Aims: The incidence of Crohn's disease (CD) is increasing and has already become a refractory disorder in China. Data on extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) in CD are rare, especially in Asians. We aimed to evaluate the trend of newly diagnosed CD and the prevalence and risk factors of EIMs in a clinical center in central China.

Materials And Methods: A total of 153 patients with CD were selected from the center from 1986 to 2011. Demographic and clinical data were collected from the center. The prevalence and risk factors of EIMs were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: The cases of CD increased from one in 1986 to 24 in 2011. It seemed to have two peaks for age at diagnosis: 21-25 and 36-40 years. Among these patients, 20 (13.07%) had one to three EIMs. The following EIMs were diagnosed: arthritis (4.58%), pyoderma gangrenosum (0.65%), erythema nodosum (1.31%), aphthous stomatitis (7.84%), ankylosing spondylitis (0.65%), and psoriasis (0.65%). In univariate analysis, patients with EIMs seemed to have shorter disease duration at diagnosis (P<0.001); those treated with intravenous injection of corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and infliximab before or recently were the most susceptible to EIMs (P=0.012, 0.005, and 0.026, respectively). Multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression to identify the risk factors of EIMs subsequently; however, no risk factors were identified (P>0.005).

Conclusion: The incidence of CD was increasing remarkably at our center, and the age distributions were concentrated in the 21-25- and 36-40-year age groups. EIMs seemed to be rare in our Chinese patients with CD, and no risk factors correlated with EIMs, which was quite different from Western countries.