Crohn's disease raises the risk of death, 10 years after the diagnosis in both men and women. Crohn's disease is an inflammation of the digestive tract that affects about a million people worldwide, many between 15 and 35 years of age. However, the exact cause has not been found as yet. Researchers from the University Hospital Maastricht, the Netherlands found that among a group of 380 Crohn's disease patients, there were 37 deaths over a 10-year period, versus 22 expected in the general population. Mortality risk was significantly increased in both women and men. Being older than 40 years at the time of the Crohn's disease diagnosis was the only independent risk factor for death. Consistent with prior similar studies, the increased risk of death was largely due to gastrointestinal causes related to Crohn's disease. Mortality risk varied somewhat by geographic area with Crohn's patients from north-European centres having a significant twofold overall increased mortality risk as compared to a slight increase in south- European centres. The use of corticosteroids did not differ between the north and south European centres, but the use of immunosuppressive drug azathioprine did. Of 237 patients from northern Europe, 74 (31 percent) had used azathioprine compared with 21 of 121 patients (17 percent) from southern Europe. The use of immunosuppressive drugs could also be interpreted as a surrogate marker of disease severity.
Gut,
April 2006