Regional variation of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease in Saudi Arabia: Results from a multicenter study

Table 1 Demographics of 456 children from birth to 17 years of age

Parameters	Crohn’s disease			Ulcerative colitis
	Central	West	East	Central	West	East
Number of patients	156	80	73	70	54	73
Gender, % males	94.6	44.6	37.6	39.6	21.4	17.7
Family history, % positive	17.5	16.2	13.9	9.2	9.3	9.5
Consanguinity, % positive	47	31.2	33.8	41.9	24.1	52.6
Duration of symptoms (mo): mean ± SD	17.5 ± 21.8	10.8 ± 9.9	7.8 ± 9.2	8.7 ± 10.1	5.8 ± 3.9	4.5 ± 3.0
Age at diagnosis (yr): mean ± SD	14.3 ± 3.5	10.0 ± 4.7	12.3 ± 3.4	9.6 ± 5.0	8.9 ± 4.3	9.0 ± 3.9
Diagnostic delay (mo): Median (IQR)	12 (4-25)	6 (4-12)	6 (3-6)	5 (2-9)	6 (3-9)	3 (2-6)

SD: Standard deviation; IQR: Interquartile range.

Table 2 Incidence rate trend for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease by region

Parameters/time periods	Incidence rates (95%)/100000
	2003-2007	2008-2012
Ulcerative colitis
Central region	0.27 (0.17-0.41)	0.37 (0.25-0.52)
Western region	0.24 (0.14-0.38)	0.38 (0.26-0.54)
Eastern region	0.13 (0.05-0.27)	0.27 (0.16-0.44)
Crohn’s disease
Central region	0.32 (0.21-0.48)	0.37 (0.25-0.52)
Western region	0.38 (0.25-55)	0.46 (0.33-0.63)
Eastern region	0.23 (0.12-0.40)	0.70 (0.50-0.95)

Table 3 Presenting features in children with Crohn’s disease

Parameters	Central, %	Western, %	Eastern, %	P value
Weight loss	41.5	31.4	43.5	0.467
Abdominal pain	87.8	75	94.3	0.005a
Diarrhea	68.9	75	71.7	0.723
Blood in stool	39.2	29.4	18.9	0.048a
Complicated presentation	22.2	20.3	40.4	0.029a
High CRP	52	84.3	97.1	< 0.001a
High ESR	65.6	63	91.7	< 0.001a
Low serum albumin	58.3	72.4	87	0.014a
Anemia	46.3	54.7	77.6	0.003a

^aP < 0.05, it means the significant. CRP: C-reactive protein; ESR: Erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

Table 4 Presenting features in children with ulcerative colitis

Parameters	Central, %	Western, %	Eastern, %	P value
Weight loss	41.5	31.4	43.5	0.467
Abdominal pain	67.9	52.9	73.9	0.139
Diarrhea	73.6	92.2	78.3	0.033a
Blood in stool	92.5	96.1	91.3	0.64
Pancolitis at presentation	67.9	23.5	43.5	< 0.001a
High CRP	58.8	71.4	45.5	0.347
High ESR	71.4	75	83.3	0.605
Low serum albumin	48.6	30.4	52.9	0.247
Anemia	57.4	55.6	90.9	0.006a

^aP < 0.05, it means the significant. CRP: C-reactive protein; ESR: Erythrocyte sedimentation rate.