Laboratory values in Japanese children with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Laboratory data in children with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been reported from Europe and North America, but not Asia. The aim of this study was to clarify laboratory data in Japanese children with newly diagnosed IBD, and to compare them with those in Western reports. We retrospectively reviewed patients <16years old, newly diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD) at Kurume University Hospital between January 2008 and December 2015. UC and CD patients numbered 31 and 15, respectively. The percentages of patients with normal values for hemoglobin (Hb), platelet count (Plt), albumin (Alb), C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in the UC and CD groups were 45% and 47%; 68% and 53%; 84% and 40%; 81% and 7%; and 35% and 0%, respectively. The frequency of normal results for these five tests were similar to Western findings except for the greater frequency of normal CRP in UC. Alb and ESR differed significantly between UC and CD in both mild and moderate-severe cases. Plt, Alb, CRP, and ESR differed significantly between diseases in late-onset IBD, whereas early onset IBD showed no differences. In UC, ESR correlated positively, while Hb and Alb correlated negatively, with disease activity. In CD, CRP and ESR correlated positively with activity. The proportion of Japanese children with IBD having normal values at diagnosis was mostly similar to that in Western reports. In early onset cases, UC parameters may be similar to CD. Of the five tests, ESR was particularly indicative of disease activity at diagnosis in both pediatric UC and CD.