Epidemiological profile of inflammatory bowel disease in Caxias do Sul, Brazil: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel diseases affect mostly young patients and have a huge impact on their quality of life and growing treatment costs. Currently, there are few Brazilian studies concerning their epidemiological profile. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the regional clinical and epidemiological profile of these pathological conditions in Caxias do Sul, Brazil. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study in Caxias do Sul (RS), Brazil. METHODS: A search for patients was conducted in the municipality's special medications pharmacy using the International Classification of Diseases, and medical records were manually reviewed for data collection. Sixty-seven patients were included. RESULTS: The patients’ mean age was 46.5 years and females predominated (71.6%). Ulcerative colitis was the most prevalent disease (70%) and Montreal E3 was the most prevalent presentation. The mean age at diagnosis was 39 years. Most patients had recently undergone colonoscopy (67%). Only five patients (7.4%) had records of hospital admission due to the disease, while 12 (18%) underwent a surgical procedure during follow-up. Sixty patients (89.5%) were using aminosalicylates, while less than one fifth were using immunosuppressants or immunobiological drugs: 19.4% and 14.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The profile of inflammatory bowel disease patients in this region of Brazil is similar in some characteristics to other published Brazilian data, although it differs in others such as higher frequency of pancolitis. A prospective study on these patients is planned in this region, in order to improve the data quality.