| Epidemiology is the study of the occurrence of certain diseases and other health information in certain populations. Researchers study this information to find disease patterns, information that can show how prevalent a diseases is, where more or less people have it, whether it is urban or rural in nature, if certain cultures are more prone to this. Epidemiologists have also studied CD and UC for the past few decades. The information has shifted quite a bit in the past few years, in part due to the increased knowledge about CD and UC that has led to greater ease of diagnosis. What the epidemiologists have learned is that CD and UC primarily are diseases of the developed world. More people in the northern hemisphere than the southern hemisphere are reporting cases; those in the southern world tend to be in well-developed countries such as Australia. There are also more cases reported in the western civilization than in the eastern civilization. In the United States, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America did their own in depth study of occurrence rates and the organization estimates that there are one million individuals with IBD, about 500,000 for each disease. About 30,000 individuals are diagnosed with the diseases annually. Geographically, higher concentrations of people with the disease tend to be in urban areas as opposed to rural areas. Historically, more cases have been reported in the northern states as opposed to the southern states. Females are as prone to get the disease as males. Disease patterns are not gender specific; however, women may experience more discomfort and more symptoms during certain points in their menstrual cycles. Some theorize that this is due to hormonal fluctuations that occur during or leading up to ovulation or menstruation. As far as age is concerned, CD and UC do not discriminate. The diseases have been diagnosed in toddlers and in senior citizens as well as every age in between. While many believe that CD and UC are diseases of the young, that idea simply is not true. However, physicians say that the incidence is bimodal, meaning there are two general time periods in patients' lives when diagnosis is most likely to happen. The first time is between the ages of 15 and 35; this is the period of time during which most of the diagnoses occur. About 10 percent of all individuals in the United States with IBD are under the age of 18. However, a second common time of diagnosis occurs between the fifth and sixth decade of life, making it a disease of the older adult as well. As reported earlier, people in certain cultures, of certain races and in certain families are more likely than the general population to develop IBD. Originally thought to be a predominantly "Jewish" disease, IBD still strikes Jews of Eastern European descent at a rate four to five times greater than the general population. Non-Jewish Caucasians also have a higher incidence rate, though the incidence rate in the black population has climbed in recent years. Asians and Hispanics have lesser incident rates than both Caucasians and blacks. About 20 percent of all newly diagnosed individuals are directly related to another IBD patient. In a sentence: Inflammatory bowel diseases occur most often in developed areas of the world, in men and women, in the young and the old, and in some ethnic and racial groups more than others. Click here to continue reading First Year: Crohn's Disease & Ulcerative Colitis. All information is copyrighted by Jill Sklar, 2002. All rights reserved. |