Growth and early onset inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

In pediatrics, growth is considered one of the most important markers of overall well-being. This study looked at growth in children diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease before they were 5 years old from a single center. The Children's Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Mount Sinai maintains a database of 1,150 children followed at the center. Ninety-three children were included in this study, 58% boys and 42% girls. The average age at diagnosis was 3.2 years. Sixty-two percent had ulcerative colitis and 38% had Crohn disease. Height was recorded at initial presentation and at the most recent visit to the center; from this, a height percentile and z score were calculated. A target adult height was calculated for each child on the basis of mid-parental height. This target height was compared to the actual height the children achieved or the percentile they were growing along. Ten percent of children in the study presented with growth failure. For children with early onset ulcerative colitis, 58% achieved or exceeded their projected height percentile. For children with early onset Crohn disease, 38% achieved or exceeded their projected height percentile. Fifty-nine percent of the entire group either maintained their presentation percentile or increased their height percentiles over time, with an increase in z score ranging from 0.093 to 4.137.