suMMARY During the period 1955 to 1974 inclusive, 826 patients developed Crohn's disease and were registered citizens of Stockholm County at the time of definite diagnosis. These patients were followed up and investigated with reference to the occurrence of and outcome after treatment for anal fistulae. These fistulae were recorded in 184 patients (23 %/.). The incidence of anal fistulae increased the further distally the intestinal lesion was located. Healing followed local operation for anal fistula before curative intestinal resection in approximately 60% of the patients with small intestinal and combined ileocolic disease. However, patients with colonic Crohn's disease did not heal after such treatment. When curative intestinal resection was the primary procedure, 47 % of the patients healed spontaneously. Small intestinal and combined ileocolic disease was associated with a good prognosis-90 % were healed at follow-up,
Breast milk is of importance for protection against infection and for normal development of the intestinal mucosa. This study is a case-control study comparing the length of the breast-feeding period of patients who later in life develop Crohn's disease with matched control individuals. In 308 matched pairs both patient and control were able to produce information concerning the length of their period of breast-feeding. The mean length of the breast-feeding period was 4.59 months among patients and 5.76 months among controls, a significant difference (p less than 0.01). Crohn's disease patients were particularly overrepresented among those with no or very short periods of breast-feeding.
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