Incidence and prevalence of ulcerative colitis in the Jewish population of Jerusalem.

It has been generally accepted that ulcerative colitis is more common among Jews than among non-Jews. This has been challenged by a study performed in Tel Aviv. Since further investigation was indicated, we performed a survey of the incidence and prevalence of ulcerative colitis in the Jewish population of Jerusalem for the 6-year period, 1973-78. The prevalence on 31 December 1978 was 56.9/100,000, and the average annual incidence was 6.3/100,000. This prevalence is considerably higher than the 44.1/100,000 found in a similar 6-year study of the general population of Copenhagen. Compared with the previously mentioned study, which reported a prevalence of 37.3/100,000 and an incidence of 3.6/100,000 in the presumably corresponding Jewish population of Tel Aviv, we found both the prevalence and incidence to be considerably greater. When the European- and American-born Jews in the Jerusalem population were considered separately, the prevalence rose to 92.9/100,000 and the incidence to 11.2/100,000--much higher results than in previously reported studies of similar duration. The prevalence in Asian-born Jews was 31.3/100,000 and in African-born 6.5/100,000. Peak incidence was in the 20- to 25-year-old range. Of the patients with ulcerative colitis who had immigrated to Israel from Western countries, 38% had in fact been symptomatic prior to their immigration. Only 5% of patients immigrating from Eastern countries experienced symptoms prior to immigration.