Descriptive epidemiology of children hospitalized for inflammatory bowel disease in Japan: Inpatient database analysis.

BACKGROUND

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) - are chronic inflammatory disorders of the intestine. Patients with IBD are at risk of hospitalization for disease exacerbation or IBD-associated complications. In the pediatric population, however, there are limited data on IBD hospitalizations. We therefore investigated the descriptive epidemiology of hospitalizations relevant to pediatric IBD.

METHODS

The national inpatient claims database in Japan was searched for children (≤ 18 years old) with a diagnosis of IBD. The study period was 2007-2010. Data on demographic characteristics and descriptive statistics of the hospital course were extracted and analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 3559 admissions of 2175 patients met the definition of pediatric IBD: there were 1999 admissions for CD and 1560 admissions for UC. Internists were responsible for patient care in 56.6% of admissions, followed by pediatricians (27.5%). Of 3559 admissions, unscheduled hospitalizations accounted for 79.7%, and 7.6% of hospitalizations were attributable to complications of IBD, including intestinal, extraintestinal and other manifestations. The median age at first admission was 16 years (IQR, 13-17 years), in both the CD and UC groups. Compared with UC patients, CD patients had a higher number of hospitalizations (P < 0.001), but hospital stay was shorter (median: 6 vs 16 days, P < 0.001). There were seven fatal cases of IBD, accounting for 0.32% in the present series, and sepsis was the cause in five.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a description of pediatric inpatients with IBD and their hospital course in Japan.