Inflammatory bowel disease in Scottish children.

Most children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require specialist care in a tertiary medical centre. The records of 105 children with IBD who presented to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow between 1976 and 1995 were studied retrospectively. Fifty seven children and Crohn's disease (CD) (median age of presentation 7.9 years) and 48 had ulcerative colitis (UC) (median age of presentation 8.7 years). The number with CD doubled in the decade 1986-95 compared to 1975-85. 23% with CD and 13% with UC developed symptoms before the age of five years. Median time to diagnosis from symptom onset was 45.8 weeks for CD and 12.7 weeks for UC. Histological diagnosis was obtained in all children. The mainstay of treatment was aminosalicylates, and few children underwent surgery (CD 26%, UC 10%). Thirty percent with CD and 23% with UC had no relapses in the study period, and only one child with UC died. Growth was poorly recorded. The majority of children with CD and over 50% with UC had a height-for-age Z score below zero.