Crohn's disease in the elderly.

To determine the features of Crohn's disease in elderly patients we reviewed the charts, roentgenograms and pathology of patients with Crohn's disease admitted to our hospital from 1966 through 1979. Thirty-three patients (5.2% of the total) had the onset of symptoms and diagnosis made after age 60, including 18 (55%) with ileitis alone, 11 with colitis and four with ileocolitis. Six patients were seen, four with colitis and two with ileocolitis, with acute toxicity requiring early surgery. The clinical, radiographic and histologic characteristics of the disorder in older patients were otherwise similar to those described in younger patients. Differentiation of ischemic bowel disease and diverticulitis from Crohn's disease in such patients was difficult without reliance on histologic as well as clinical and roentgenographic features. Fifty-eight per cent of these older patients eventually required surgery, including 10 of 11 (91%) with colitis, two fo four with ileocolitis and seven of 18 (39%) with ileitis. The cumulative clinical recurrence rate, limited to patients with ileal disease, was 21% at nine years and 37% at 15 years.