Clinical characteristics of Crohn's disease in a cohort from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: In Saudi Arabia, there are limited studies on the clinical characteristics of patients specifically with Crohn's disease (CD). This study was conducted to describe the clinical characteristics of CD at a tertiary care center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This retrospective study included all patients aged >14 years who had a definitive diagnosis of CD and were managed at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between 2012 and 2018. Data were collected for the following categories: clinical, laboratory, radiological, histological features at presentation, and disease-related complications. Results: The study included 245 newly diagnosed CD patients, aged 14–73 years (median: 26.3 years). All subjects presented with abdominal pain. Majority of the patients (59.7%) received a definitive diagnosis of CD >3 months after the onset of symptoms; 15.1% were initially suspected to have intestinal tuberculosis. Diarrhea and bleeding per rectum were reported in 60.8% and 49.7% of the patients, respectively. Sacroiliitis was the most frequent extraintestinal manifestations (11.4%). In terms of disease location, the terminal ileum (L1) was the most affected area (46.9%). Twenty-five patients had perianal disease, of which 40% had complex fistulae and 36% had perianal abscesses. The majority had hemoglobin levels >10 g/dl (74.1%), decreased serum iron (69.6%) and ferritin (50.5%) levels, and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (68.2%) and C-reactive protein (82.2%). Conclusions: The majority of the patients in our cohort presented with the characteristic quartet of abdominal pain, weight loss, fever, and diarrhea. This study also found a significant number of patients with CD in Saudi Arabia experience diagnostic delay, which may contribute to disease morbidity and complications. These findings highlight the need for future studies to determine factors influencing this diagnostic delay.

Clinicolaboratory profile of children with celiac disease in North India

“…Similar to our study high incidence of anemia (90.7%) was also documented by Rawal et [8,10,11]. Mean serum iron levels in our study were 37.25 µg/dl, similar to those reported by Sherwani et al and Qari of 29.2 µg/dl and 38.2 µg/dl, respectively [22,23]. Pathophysiology of anemia in CD is multifactorial including impaired duodenal iron absorption, occult gastrointestinal blood loss, intravascular hemolysis due to other autoimmune disorder and co-existent chronic inflammatory disease, anemia of chronic disease, low erythropoietin for degree of anemia, etc., in CD patients.…”

Clinical Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in a Tertiary Center in Saudi Arabia

“…Table 5 summarizes the various clinical and serologic features that were previously published in Saudi Arabia [18][19][20][21]. Acute cutaneous lupus, particularly malar rash and photosensitivity, was present in 39% of our patients.…”

Experience of providing care to a family member with Crohn's disease and a temporary stoma: A qualitative study

“…Crohn's disease (CD) is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes gastrointestinal tract inflammation, which has a characteristic “skip lesions”（discontinuous regions of inflamed bowel separated by unaffected mucosa） [ [1] , [2] , [3] ]. Despite the increasing number of patients receiving biotherapies, surgery is still an essential tool in the management of patients with CD [ 4 ].…”