Epidemiología y comportamiento de la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal en la población ecuatoriana

In Ecuador, there are no epidemiological data on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We seek to determine the epidemiology and behavior of IBD in the Ecuadorian population. Methods. Descriptive observational study, using the clinical records of patients diagnosed with IBD, from the three referral centers for IBD of Ecuadorian social insurance, from 1990 to 2018. Results. This study included a total of 206 patients diagnosed with IBD, of these, 148 with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 58 with Crohn’s disease (CD). The average age of diagnosis for both UC and CD was 42 years. The average time from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis was 7.5 months for UC and 11.6 months for CD. The most frequent symptom in UC was digestive bleeding (62.2%) and chronic diarrhea in CD (37.2%). The most frequent extension in UC was extensive colitis (41%). The most frequent location in CD was ilecolonic (36%). The predominant extra digestive manifestation for both was articular, UC (64%) and CD (70%). The predominant treatment in UC and CD was 5ASA in 40% and 54% respectively. In CD, the diagnostic time longer than 12 months was associated with the need for surgery (p = 0.03). The prevalence of IBD in Ecuador is 5.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, corresponding 3.7 to CU and 1.5 to CD. Conclusions. IBD in Ecuador presents a comparable increase to that reported in other countries that were also considered low risk.