No seasonality in month of birth of inflammatory bowel disease cases: a prospective population based study of British under 20 year olds

• Published in: Gut Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 814 - 815
• Main Authors: Card, T R, Sawczenko, A, Sandhu, B K, Logan, R F A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Society of Gastroenterology 01-12-2002; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; Copyright 2002 by Gut
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Biological and medical sciences; Births; Child; Child, Preschool; Colitis, Ulcerative - epidemiology; Colitis, Ulcerative - etiology; Crohn Disease - epidemiology; Crohn Disease - etiology; Crohn's disease; Crohns disease; Environmental aspects; Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen; Health aspects; Humans; IBD; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Inflammation and Inflammatory Bowel Disease; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - epidemiology; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - etiology; Medical sciences; Other diseases. Semiology; Parturition; Risk factors; Seasons; Statistics as Topic; Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus; Studies; ulcerative colitis; ulcerative colitis epidemiology; United Kingdom - epidemiology; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Crohn disease; Annual variation; Digestive diseases; Intestinal disease; Birth date; Statistical study; Influence factor; Inflammatory disease; Ulcerative colitis
• ISSN: 0017-5749; 1468-3288; 1458-3288
• DOI: 10.1136/gut.51.6.814

Prenatal or perinatal environmental exposures have been postulated to change the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) later in life. 1 One manifestation of this, perhaps because of early and seasonal infectious exposure, might be an association between the month of birth and risk of developing IBD later in life. 2- 4 Two recent publications, one from the UK, 3 and the other from Denmark 4 have examined cohorts of Crohn's patients for such seasonality of birth. Table 1 Birth data and observed/expected cases of inflammatory bowel disease in the United Kingdom Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec UK births 1978-98 (thousands) 1302 1202 1336 1296 1355 1327 1377 1344 1339 1330 1245 1257 CD cases observed 69 45 44 59 49 58 59 56 61 43 52 39 CD cases expected 52 48 54 52 55 53 55 54 54 54 50 50 "Rate" of CD per 100000 births 5.3 3.7 3.3 4.6 3.6 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.6 3.2 4.2 3.1 UC cases observed 26 26 23 17 29 20 20 25 20 24 20 27 UC cases expected 23 21 24 23 24 23 24 24 24 23 22 22 "Rate" of UC per 100000 births 2.0 2.2 1.7 1.3 2.1 1.5 1.5 1.9 1.5 1.8 1.6 2.2 IBD cases observed 103 81 80 88 88 91 88 92 89 80 82 78 IBD cases expected 86 79 87 86 90 87 91 89 89 88 82 83 "Rate" of all IBD per 100000 births 7.9 6.7 6.0 6.8 6.5 6.9 6.4 6.8 6.6 6.0 6.6 6.2 CD, Crohn's disease; UC, ulcerative colitis; IBD, all cases of inflammatory bowel disease.