Inflammatory bowel disease in the elderly.

Inflammatory bowel disease exhibits a bimodality in age-specific incidence rates, with the second peak occurring from 60 to 70 years of age. In the elderly, both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease tend to involve the left side of the colon. The course of disease and the basic principles of management in geriatric populations do not differ from those in younger patients; however, elderly patients do pose distinct problems in differential diagnosis and in therapy choice.