Introduction to the Case

Crohn’s Disease:
- Crohn's Disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes
inflammation of your digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe
diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition. It commonly affects the last part of the
small intestine called the ileum and the first portion of the colon/large intestine called
cecum.

- It is a chronic disease that will be present throughout a patient’s life but can be
manage with both patient and physicians working together. Risk factors contributing
to the disease are; Genetic predisposition, environmental factors, and a
Dysregulated Immune Response.

- Crohn’s disease can sometimes be misdiagnosed as Ulcerative Colitis however the

difference is that Crohn’s can be present all throughout the GI track in patches while
Ulcerative Colitis is only present in the large intestine/colon and rectum, slowly
migrating away from the starting point of inflammation. Furthermore, Crohn’s
Disease does not have any known cure, while surgery and medication can help
elevate the symptoms.

As per The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Club of the Philippines, the incidence of
Crohn’s disease is 0.07 per 100,000 person a year, the prevalence of Crohn’s Disease is 0.35
per 100,000 persons. While the global ceiling incidence range is 23.8–29.3 per 100,000
population.

References for statistics:

1. 2012 IBD Club of the Philippines Data on File (unpublished)

2. Ng, S. C., Shi, H. Y., Hamidi, N., Underwood, F. E., Tang, W., Benchimol, E. I.,
… Kaplan, G. G. (2017). Worldwide incidence and prevalence of inflammatory
bowel disease in the 21st century: a systematic review of population-based
studies. The Lancet, 390(10114), 2769–2778. doi:10.1016/s0140-
6736(17)32448-0