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Racial differences in the prevalence of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease in Singapore
Author(s) -
Lee Ym,
Fock Km,
See Sj,
Ng Tm,
Khor C,
Teo Ek
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1746.2000.02212.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ulcerative colitis , epidemiology , malay , crohn's disease , disease , inflammatory bowel disease , population , family history , gastroenterology , demography , environmental health , linguistics , philosophy , sociology
AbstractBackground: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rates of inflammatory bowel disease in the different races in Singapore.Methods: The patients studied consisted of 58 people with an established diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) as determined by a combination of clinical, radiological, endoscopic and histological criteria. The patients were residents of a well‐defined geographical area in the northern part of Singapore and had been referred to the single regional hospital. Epidemiological data including sex, age, ethnicity, family history and disease type and extent were collected from case records and patient interviews.Results: There were 37 UC and 21 CD patients. Of the patients with UC, 67.5% were Chinese, 13.5% were Malay and 19% were Indian. The CD group consisted of 81% Chinese, 9.5% Malay and 9.5% Indian patients. The study population from which the patients were drawn was approximately 0.5 million in size.Conclusions: The overall prevalence of UC was 6 per 100 000 and of CD was 3.6 per 100 000 in Singapore. There were disproportionately more Indians suffering from UC, with a prevalence of 16.2 per 100 000 in comparison with six per 100 000 for Chinese and seven per 100 000 for Malays. The relative risk of UC in Indians is 2.9‐fold greater than for the Chinese (CI = 1.25–6.7) which was statistically significant. This trend was not seen for CD.