Epidemiologic and Etiological Aspects of Crohn's Disease

• Autor(a) principal: Schoffen, João Paulo Ferreira
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Prado, Isaura Maria Mesquita
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde e Pesquisa (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unicesumar.edu.br/index.php/saudpesq/article/view/1720
• topic: Crohn's Disease; Gastrointestinal Tract; Epidemiology; Etiology.; Doença de Crohn; Trato Gastrointestinal; Epidemiologia; Etiologia.

Crohn's disease (granulomatous enteritis or colitis, regional enteritis, ileitis, or terminal ileitis) is an inflammatory bowel disease of high morbidity and relative mortality. It affects the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus, frequently reaching the terminal ileum, producing serious physiological and morphological changes that may put to risk the well-being of the subject and society. Although the disease’s epidemiology has been more or less established in the United States, reliable epidemic data in Brazil are still lacking due to difficulties in diagnosis and scanty information. The most probable causes of the disease may include infectious agents; psychosomatic, genetic, immunological and also environmental factors, mainly those related with diet. The latter is considered by many people as a "disease of the modern world". The difficulty in establishing the causal agent jeopardizes the treatment of the disease, and may lead to clinical and/or surgical symptomatic treatments. Due to the pathology’s increase during the last decades, current essay informs professionals, researchers and the population on the epidemiology and etiology of Crohn's disease.