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World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2014; 20(3): 814-821
Published online Jan 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i3.814
Published online Jan 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i3.814
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of inflammatory bowel diseases in Cairo, Egypt
Serag Esmat, Mohamed El Nady, Mazen Naga, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
Mohamed Elfekki, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef 62513, Egypt
Yehia Elsherif, Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
Author contributions: Esmat S and Naga M designed the study; Esmat S, El Nady M, Elfikki M and Elsherif Y contributed to data collection, data analysis, selection of patients and drafting the manuscript under supervision of Naga M; Esmat S critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors approved the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Serag Esmat, MD, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Kasr El-Aini St., Cairo 11562, Egypt. seragesmat@yahoo.com
Telephone: +20-23-646394 Fax: +20-23-657104
Received: September 13, 2013
Revised: November 21, 2013
Accepted: December 3, 2013
Published online: January 21, 2014
Revised: November 21, 2013
Accepted: December 3, 2013
Published online: January 21, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: The precise aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains obscure. In our study, the ratio of patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) to those diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (CD) was approximately 6:1. The total colectomy rate in our study was 2.9%, after a follow up period of 5-15 years, which is far lower than the rates of Western countries. We found that the characteristics of IBD in the Egyptian population were more similar to Asian and African IBD patterns. We noticed a marked increase in the frequency of UC and CD diagnoses over the past 10 years, which indicates an increasing incidence of IBD in Egypt.