Crohn's disease in Jamaica

ABSTRACT

Twenty patients with Crohn's disease seen in Jamaica over the past 20 years are reviewed. There were 14 women and 6 men. The mean age at presentation was 37 years, and symptoms were present for a mean of 12 months. Fourteen patients presented with lower abdominal pain, and diarrhoea was present in 11. Lower gastrointestinal bleeding was the presenting feature in 2. The distribution of disease was ileal in 6, and 8 had primary colonic involvement. Three patients had ileocolitis and one perianal disease. One had involvement of the entire small intestine and ascending colon and another had skip lesions involving several areas of the small intestine. Surgical resection was performed in 5 patients. Of the 15 patients treated medically, 6 have remained well while 8 had recurrent episodes of relapse. Crohn's disease is an uncommon disorder in Jamaica, but should be considered in patients presenting with imflammatory bowel disease (AU)