Incidence and Natural History of Very Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Scotland: National and Regional Cohort Studies

ABSTRACT

Very early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (VEOIBD) (diagnosed under 6 years of age) has attracted considerable attention in recent years, with monogenic forms providing insight into immune dysregulation. However, the majority of VEOIBD patients have a classical polygenic phenotype and a similar disease course to older children.The study sought to assess the incidence trends of VEOIBD in Scotland from 1981 to 2014 and to describe the natural history, phenotype, and treatment burden of VEOIBD in a regional cohort from South-East Scotland (1997-2021).Nationally, 128 (8.1%) of 1567 incident pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients (