Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children and Adolescents

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease, are chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract most often diagnosed in adolescence and young adulthood, with a rising incidence in pediatric populations. These disorders are common enough in children that most pediatricians and other pediatric clinicians will encounter children with IBD in their general practice. Inflammatory bowel disease is caused by a dysregulated mucosal immune response to the intestinal microflora in genetically predisposed hosts. Although children can present with the classic symptoms of weight loss, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea, many present with nonclassic symptoms of…