Is early limited surgery associated with a more benign disease course in Crohn’s disease?

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients with Crohn’s disease

Characteristics	n = 506
Male/female	251/255
Age at presentation (yr)	31.5 ± 13.8
Median follow-up (yr)	11.4 ± 7.8
Familial IBD	12.9%
Location (n)
L1	166
L2	182
L3	155
L4 only	3
Behavior (n)
B1	288
At diagnosis B2	100
B3	118
Perianal disease	25.5%
Total steroid exposure/dependent-refractory	68.6%/11.2%
Total azathioprine exposure	45.8%
Total biological exposure	9.1%
Smoking habits (n)
No	224
At diagnosis Ex	38
Yes	244

L1: Ileal; L2: Colonic; L3: Ileocolonic; L4: Upper Gastrointestinal; B1: Inflammatory; B2: Stenosing; B3: Penetrating. IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease.