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Doctors report upsurge of bowel disease among children

By Lorraine Fraser, Medical Correspondent

THE number of children with inflammatory bowel disease is far higher than thought, a new survey has found.

The nationwide study into the disease among children - carried out by the Institute of Child Health, the British Society of Gastroenterology Research Unit and the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit - found that between June 1998 and June 1999, doctors identified 700 new cases of the condition, far more than the 300 a year expected from previous studies.

Although the results of the survey cannot be compared with past estimates because they were colated differently, the doctors involved believe that bowel illnesses have increased among British children.

Prof Bhupinder Sandhu from the Institute of Child Health in Bristol, who headed the research, said yesterday that the fact that the environment of British children was now cleaner could be responsible. Thirty years ago inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was almost unheard of among British children. In recent years, however, paediatric gastroenterologists have become increasingly concerned by an apparent upsurge in illnesses of this type.

The two conditions of IBD, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, cause extreme damage to the digestive system. They are life-long illnesses which are difficult to treat. The study, designed to pick up every case in the country and reported in the medical journal The Lancet, was set up to address doctors' concerns and provide reliable data. It is to be repeated in 2003 to see if cases of the illness have risen to try to find the cause.

Prof Sandhu said: "The incidence does appear to be increasing but this is the beginning of trying to document what is going on. One new thing that has come out is that ulcerative colitis is more common in Asians. It is hardly ever seen in Asia, even in very good units which are set up to make a diagnosis, which implies environment is probably important. When I was appointed as a consultant at Bristol 12 years ago, I was getting about three to four new cases a year. In the survey we had 24 - that is a real trend."

About 5,000 young people in Britain now have the illness. The increase also mirrors a similar rise in Sweden. In England and Wales 5.2 children per 100,000 fell ill with either of the two diseases. There were slightly more (6.5 per 100,000) in Scotland and fewer in Northern Ireland (3.6 per 100,000).

One theory being explored is that Britain's clean environment is to blame. Children are no longer exposed to the same range of bacteria encountered by children in the developing world and this somehow may alter their immune system. Alternatively a microbe or something in food could be behind the increase.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2001

Answers

An on the mark assessment Git. Kids privileged to roll in the dirt definately come out with better immune capicity. Good article in Science News a year or so ago. Will find.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2001

so when i say "eat my shorts," i'm actually prescribing good health advice?

i think a lot of this stems from the development of these disinfectant pumped soaps everybody seems to have nowadays. common germs that were once passed hand to mouth are losing ground.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2001