Epidemiological and clinical features of Spanish patients with Crohn's disease. Spanish Epidemiological and Economic Study Group on Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVES

To study the epidemiological features, clinical profile and drug utilization patterns of patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study of 635 Spanish patients with CD included through a stratified and proportional random sampling.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 33 years (SD 11.9) (52% were women). Nine per cent of the patients had a family history of CD and 14% had a history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Over half (54%) of the patients were smokers. The most frequent localization of CD was ileocolonic involvement (47%). Twelve per cent had peri-anal disease. Regarding symptom pattern, 23% of the patients had chronic active disease and 42% had experienced no relapses during the previous 12 months. Compared with the inflammatory pattern, fistulizing pattern was associated with a significantly higher proportion of patients with chronic active disease, a higher number of relapses per year, and a higher incidence of post-surgical relapses. Sixty-one per cent of the patients had complications and 35% were hospitalized. Acute relapse and bowel stricture were the most common complications. The need for hospitalization was higher in patients with fistulizing pattern. Regarding medication, 77% and 41 % of the patients were taking aminosalicylates and corticosteroids respectively, mainly on a long-term basis. Mean daily doses (MDD) were 2.2 g/day and 31.7 mg/day respectively. Twenty-one per cent had received immunosuppressors with a MDD of 1.6 mg/kg/day. Fifteen per cent of the patients had received metronidazole or ciprofloxacin while 5% were taking anti-diarrhoeal drugs.

CONCLUSIONS

Spanish patients with CD are young, have frequent hospitalization requirements, complications, and a high consumption of drugs.