Clinical characteristics and long-term prognosis of elderly-onset Crohn’s disease.

<bold>Objectives:</bold> This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics and clinical course of Asian elderly-onset Crohn’s disease (EOCD) patients in a large well-defined cohort of South Korean IBD patients. <bold>Materials and methods:</bold> From the Asan inflammatory bowel disease registry, we identified 29 EOCD patients (diagnosed with CD in age of 60 years or over) out of 2989 CD patients (1.0%). After excluding two patients with unclear data, 27 EOCD were matched with 108 young-onset CD (YOCD) and 108 middle age-onset CD (MOCD) for the interval from symptom onset to diagnosis (±3 years) and follow-up duration (±3 years). <bold>Results:</bold> Females were predominant in the EOCD group (59.3%) compared to MOCD (31.5%) and YOCD (29.6%) groups (<italic>p</italic> = .012). In EOCD group, terminal ileal location was the most common (63.0%) at diagnosis, whereas ileocolonic location in other groups (57.4% in MOCD and 78.7% in YOCD, respectively) (<italic>p</italic> < .001). Patients with perianal fistula at CD diagnosis were less common (14.8% in EOCD <italic>vs.</italic> 28.7% in MOCD <italic>vs.</italic> 49.1% in YOCD, <italic>p</italic> < .001). During follow-up, thiopurines were used less frequently in the EOCD group (48.1% in EOCD <italic>vs.</italic> 87.0% in MOCD <italic>vs.</italic> 89.8% in YOCD, <italic>p</italic> < .001), but the risk for intestinal resection was comparable among three groups (<italic>p</italic> = .583). <bold>Conclusions:</bold> EOCD may have a better clinical course than MOCD and YOCD, as demonstrated by the similar risk for intestinal resection despite the less frequent use of thiopurines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]