Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr;18(2):71-84.
doi: 10.14740/gr2007. Epub 2025 Mar 25.

Incidence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children

Joanna Wiczynska-Ryl  1   2 , Aneta Krogulska  1   2
Affiliations

Incidence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children

Joanna Wiczynska-Ryl et al. Gastroenterology Res. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Many of the patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are children and adolescents, and the incidence of pediatric IBD is increasing. However, understanding epidemiological trends is crucial for effective prevention and treatment and reducing the local and global burden of IBD. Little data exist regarding the incidence of IBD in the child population in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship. The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of IBD in the period 2011 - 2022 and to compare the data regarding three types of IBD, namely ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn's disease (CD), and unclassified inflammatory bowel disease (IBD-U), from the first half, i.e. 2011 - 2016, to the second half, i.e. 2017 - 2022.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the medical records of 118 IBD patients hospitalized at the Department of Pediatrics, Allergology and Gastroenterology from the central-northern part of Poland.

Results: Of the 118 patients diagnosed with IBD, 48 (40.68%) had CD, 57 (48.31%) had UC, and 13 (11.01%) had IBD-U. Between 2011 and 2016, 48 new IBD patients were diagnosed, with a further 70 new cases added between 2017 and 2022, representing a significant increase over the period (P = 0.033). Also, a significant increase was seen for UC, i.e. rising from 19 new cases between 2011 and 2016, to 38 between 2017 and 2022 (P = 0.015). The increase in CD was not significant.

Conclusion: The incidence of pediatric IBD in the central-northern district of Poland is lower than other countries, it nonetheless appears to be increasing, particularly in children with UC. The number of IBD diagnoses in children has increased by nearly 50% over the last 6 years.

Keywords: Children; Incidence; Inflammatory bowel disease; Poland.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of study design.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of new cases of UC, CD, and IBD-U per year. CD: Crohn’s disease; IBD-U: unclassified inflammatory bowel disease; UC: ulcerative colitis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of children with newly diagnosed IBD, UC, CD, and IBD-U (per 100,000 children) in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodeship. CD: Crohn’s disease; IBD-U: unclassified inflammatory bowel disease; UC: ulcerative colitis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Trend in IBD incidence in children by age subgroup. IBD: inflammatory bowel disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Borowitz SM. The epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease: clues to pathogenesis? Front Pediatr. 2022;10:1103713. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.1103713. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Levine A, Koletzko S, Turner D, Escher JC, Cucchiara S, de Ridder L, Kolho KL. et al. ESPGHAN revised porto criteria for the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease in children and adolescents. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2014;58(6):795–806. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000000239. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rosen MJ, Dhawan A, Saeed SA. Inflammatory bowel disease in children and adolescents. JAMA Pediatr. 2015;169(11):1053–1060. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.1982. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. McDowell C, Farooq U, Haseeb M. StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL) with ineligible companies; 2025. Inflammatory bowel disease. - PubMed
    1. Araki M, Shinzaki S, Yamada T, Arimitsu S, Komori M, Shibukawa N, Mukai A. et al. Age at onset is associated with the seasonal pattern of onset and exacerbation in inflammatory bowel disease. J Gastroenterol. 2017;52(11):1149–1157. doi: 10.1007/s00535-017-1313-6. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources