Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 14, 2022; 28(30): 4174-4181
Published online Aug 14, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i30.4174
Epidemiology of inflammatory bowel diseases in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Ornella Sari Cassol, Gilmara Pandolfo Zabot, Rogerio Saad-Hossne, Alexandre Padoin
Ornella Sari Cassol, Department of Coloproctology, IMED Medical School, Passo Fundo 99010260, RS, Brazil
Ornella Sari Cassol, Alexandre Padoin, Graduate Program in Medicine and Health Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre 90610001, RS, Brazil
Gilmara Pandolfo Zabot, Department of Coloproctology, Coloprocto Canoas Clinic, Canoas 92310205, RS, Brazil
Gilmara Pandolfo Zabot, Department of Coloproctology, Hospital Moinhos de Vento (HMV), Porto Alegre 90035000, RS, Brazil
Rogerio Saad-Hossne, Department of Surgery and Orthopaedics, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Botucatu 18618687, SP, Brazil
Author contributions: Cassol OS contributed to data collection, investigation, writing-original draft, and statistical analysis; Zabot GP, Saad-Hossne R, and Padoin A contributed to writing-review and editing.
Supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)-Finance Code 001.
Institutional review board statement: This study was performed after approval by the Research Ethics Committee of Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Certificate of Presentation for Ethical Appreciation No. 25551019 9 0000 5336; and the ESP/SES/RS Research Ethics Committee, Certificate of Presentation for Ethical Appreciation 25551019 9 3001 5312; this work respected the guidelines of Resolution No. 466/12 of the National Health Council and Law No. 13709 of the General Personal Data Protection Law.
Informed consent statement: This study did not involve the collection of biological material from participants. Data obtained with the data collection instrument were codified, aiming to preserve the participants’ privacy and anonymity. A data use agreement form was signed.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ornella Sari Cassol, MSc, Professor, Coloproctology, IMED Medical School, 295 Rua Tiradentes, Passo Fundo 99010260, RS, Brazil. cassol.ornella@gmail.com
Received: January 19, 2022
Peer-review started: January 19, 2022
First decision: April 10, 2022
Revised: April 22, 2022
Accepted: July 16, 2022
Article in press: July 16, 2022
Published online: August 14, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

First study on the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), the southernmost state of Brazil. IBDs have high incidence and prevalence rates in high-income countries, although in recent years there has been a change in the classic geographical distribution of IBDs, with growing rates in traditionally low-incidence regions.

Research motivation

The importance of this study lies in the lack of research on the incidence and prevalence of IBDs in the state of RS. A challenge for future studies is related to access to data of all patients with IBDs, as these are not notifiable diseases in Brazil.

Research objectives

To determine the incidence and prevalence of IBD in the state of RS. The relevance of the results lies in the lack of knowledge of such data until the present study.

Research methods

This is an observational study of IBDs from the state of RS between 2014 and 2019. Drugs for the treatment of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are dispensed by the specialty pharmacy. The variables analyzed were incidence, prevalence, age, sex, and CD or UC.

Research results

These are the first data on the incidence and prevalence of IBDs in the state of RS. However, these are not comprehensive data, as only patients from the public health system were included. Studies also including patients from the private health insurance sector are needed.

Research conclusions

The most relevant of the following questions should be briefly answered: What are the new theories that this study proposes? This study showed a similar IBD prevalence to other Brazilian studies and a decreasing incidence. What are the new methods that this study proposed? We propose that studies covering patients from both public and private health sectors should be conducted.

Research perspectives

Future studies should include a larger sample to provide a more reliable understanding of the real epidemiology of IBDs in the state of RS.