[Inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract at the University Hospital, Medical Center, Puerto Rico. 1980-87].

Although ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease have been known for a long time, the etiology is still unknown, and at times it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. In addition, the characteristics of the disease make their epidemiologic study difficult. We have reviewed 70 cases with the diagnosis of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, and compared our results with those published from other parts of the world. We found a high proportion of ulcerative colitis to Crohn's disease, 5.36:1. There was no difference in affected age groups or most frequent symptoms; but we found Crohn's disease to be more frequent in the colon. We also found a very low incidence of extraintestinal manifestations. We believe an adequate standard protocol should be followed for the evaluation of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, including complementary studies to assess disease patterns and complications.