For the last century, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been a challenge for patients and the medical community in the western world. New research published today in The Lancet by Dr. Gilaad Kaplan shows that countries outside the western world may now be facing the same pattern of increasing IBD rates.
For the last century, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been a challenge for patients and the medical community in the western world. New research published today in The Lancet by Dr. Gilaad Kaplan shows that countries outside the western world may now be facing the same pattern of increasing IBD rates.
“Over the past 100 years, the incidence of IBD in western countries has climbed and then plateaued,” says Kaplan, an associate professor at the Cumming School of Medicine. “Our research shows that countries outside the western world now appear to be in the first stage of this sequence.”
IBD affects over 0.3 per cent of the population in North America and Europe, with more than 200,000 patients afflicted in Canada. “IBD is a modern disease, growing in prevalence in North America, Europe and Australia since the 1950s,” says Kaplan. “As countries in Asia, South America and the Middle East have become industrialized, IBD has emerged and its incidence is rising dramatically. At the turn of the 21st century, it became a global disease.”
Done in collaboration with Siew Ng, PhD, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the research brings together data from all population-based studies reporting on the incidence or prevalence of IBD since 1990. “As newly industrialized countries become more westernized, we can clearly see that the incidence of IBD is also rapidly rising,” says Ng.
Read more at University of Calgary
Image: Dr. Gilaad Kaplan presents his research findings Oct. 16 in Orlando, Fla. (Credit: University of Calgary)
