Are there interregional differences in the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of Crohn's disease in the Asia-Pacific region?

4 According to another population-based study from Zhong-shan, Guangdong, China, the age-standardized incidence rates of CD and UC were 1.09 and 2.05 per 100,000 persons, respectively, between 2011 and 2012, which were slightly higher than those found in the Wuhan study. 4,5 These differences suggest that IBD incidence may vary even between districts within the same country. 4,5 A recent multinational population-based study conducted across Australia and Asia from 2011 to 2012 showed strikingly different IBD incidences between areas. 6 The age-standardized annual incidence rates of CD and UC were 14. 6 Regarding the clinical characteristics of CD, a Korean study reported male predominance, the peak age at diagnosis of 15–19 years and a low proportion (12.3%) of isolated colonic disease. 1 Male predominance among CD patients has also been observed in Japan, Taiwan, and Zhongshan, but not in Wuhan or Australia. 3-7 For the Japanese and Zhongshan Chi-nese population, the peak age at CD diagnosis was the late teens or early twenties, but in Taiwan and Wuhan, CD was most commonly diagnosed in the mid to late thirties. 3-5,7 The proportion of isolated colonic CD at diagnosis was only 5.9% in Zhongshan (even lower than the 12.3% found in the Korean study), whereas the corresponding figures were 23.5% The increasing incidence and prevalence of IBD in the Asia-Pacific region demands that more attention be paid to the characteristics of IBD in this part of the world. Differences in the clinical features, prognosis, and genetics of IBD between patients from the Asia-Pacific region and Western patients may call for different management approaches. Therefore, we need to characterize IBD patients in this area more clearly by investigating a substantial number of patients from multiple regions. The first formal population-based study on the epidemiology of both CD and UC in the Asia-Pacific region was from the Songpa-Kangdong district of Seoul, Korea, which showed increasing incidence rates of both diseases over the 20 years between 1986 and 2005. 1 Specifically, the mean annual incidence rates of CD increased significantly from 0. which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Article: Clinical features of Crohn' s disease in Korean patients residing in Busan and Gyeongnam