Inflammatory Bowel Disease In Children - Delays In Diagnosis Common

Fifty years ago, IBD was almost exclusively diagnosed in adults. These days, treating children with IBD is business as usual in our clinics. The two main forms of IBD are Crohns disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). For unknown reasons, Crohns disease seems to be rising more rapidly in children than ulcerative colitis, Oliva-Hemker says. Children with CD also tend to be diagnosed later than those with ulcerative colitis because the most common symptom is vague abdominal pain rather than the more suggestive bloody stools seen in ulcerative colitis, she notes. Delays in treatment can make IBD worse and lead to severe anemia from gastrointestinal bleeding, poor food absorption, malnutrition and stunted growth. In advanced cases, IBD can cause serious damage to the colon and small intestine that requires surgery. To prevent dangerous delays in diagnosis and treatment, Oliva-Hemker says the following symptoms especially if they keep coming back or never fully go away should prompt a visit to a specialist: abdominal pain poor appetite and weight loss poor growth, especially in younger children pale skin, rapid heartbeat, fatigue and dizziness, all of which could indicate chronic anemia from GI bleeding a family history of IBD up to 30 percent of childhood cases have genetic roots Oliva-Hemker advises pediatricians who suspect IBD to obtain routine blood tests to check for anemia and inflammation markers like elevated sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein. The diagnosis can usually be confirmed with an endoscopy and colonoscopy. IBD is most commonly diagnosed in school-age children and teens, but Hopkins Childrens gastroenterologists say that they have seen the disease in a growing number of children younger than 5 years of age. More than 100,000 children in the United States have IBD, according to the Crohns & Colitis Foundation of America. A 2003 study published in The Journal of Pediatrics reported a surprisingly high rate of IBD among children in Wisconsin the highest in the world at that point 7.5 cases per 100 000, with a CD rate of 4.56 and a UC rate of 2.14. Scientists believe that IBD is triggered by an overactive immune system that mistakenly attacks the colon and small intestine. bonuses http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110328/Inflammatory-bowel-disease-in-children-Delays-in-diagnosis-common.aspx





$5 million investment in the Canadian Children Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Network: a joint partnership of CIHR and the CH.I.L.D Foundation





In addition to the search for a cure, the Network will work toward improving the quality of care for current pediatric IBD patients (and their families), as well as uncovering the factors that make children susceptible to developing IBD. "Canada has a very high incidence of pediatric IBDin fact, it's one of the highest in the world," said Dr. Anne Griffiths, lead researcher for the Network at SickKids Research Institute in Toronto. "Together, researchers can tackle questions such as the reasons for the high prevalence of IBD in Canadian children; with collaboration from health care professionals, we can determine the best treatment strategies to heal bowel inflammation. Children should be allowed to grow and enjoy a happy childhood." "IBD has to be managed every dayand it can be painful, debilitating, and even life-threatening. It can also cause many other health problems for those who have it," said Kyle Hadwin, an individual living with IBD since 1999. "It is inspiring to see great strides in research and clinical care that will support patients and their families from early childhood onto adulthood." "This Network, the first of its kind in Canada to bring together top-ranking pediatric IBD researchers, is innovative and ground-breaking, with built-in stringent accountability structures and processes," said Dr. Grace McCarthy, O.C., O.C.B., Chairman of the Board for the CH.I.L.D. Foundation. "The partnership between the CH.I.L.D Foundation and CIHR to support this Network provides a unique infrastructure for state-of-the-art data collection, as well as an opportunity to conduct world-class research and drive excellence in clinical care." "Canada is the perfect milieu for world-class research in pediatric IBD, with its high degree of ethnic variation, large population of immigrants from low-prevalence countries, high prevalence of IBD, and successful collaborative pediatric IBD research centres," said Dr. Philip Sherman, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes. why not look here http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1244607/-5-million-investment-in-the-canadian-children-inflammatory-bowel-diseases-network-a-joint-partnership-of-cihr-and-the-ch-i-l-d-foundation