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Hospitalizations for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among US Military Veterans 1975–2006

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Abstract

Background The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest healthcare system in the United States. The VA database was used to analyze patterns of hospitalization for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) among US military veterans. Methods The study used the VA Patient Treatment File (PTF) between 1975 and 2006. Each hospital record extracted from the PTF included diagnosis, patient age, and ethnicity. Patient age was analyzed in three age groups: 0–44, 45–64, and 65+. Patient ethnicity was analyzed by two broad categories as white and nonwhite. Results Among veterans, Crohn’s disease was more common than ulcerative colitis and both diseases were more common in whites than in nonwhites. During the past 30 years, the age distributions of both diseases have shifted towards older patients who have come to represent an increasingly larger fraction of patients with Crohn’s disease, as well as ulcerative colitis. Hospitalization rates for inflammatory bowel disease among whites recently declined, while most rates among nonwhites continued to rise throughout the observation period. Conclusion The present study revealed a time-dependent shift towards older ages in the age distribution of IBD among hospitalized veterans. These changes, which have been observed similarly in other US statistics, may reflect a birth-cohort phenomenon underlying the long-term time trends of IBD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Houston VA HSR&D Center of Excellence, Houston Center for Quality of Care & Utilization Studies [HFP90-020].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Portland VA Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University (AS), P3-GI, 3710 SW US Veterans Hospital Road, Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Amnon Sonnenberg, Peter A. Richardson & Neena S. Abraham

  2. Houston Center for Quality of Care & Utilization Studies (PAR, NSA), Houston, TX, USA

    Peter A. Richardson & Neena S. Abraham

  3. Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine (PAR, NSA), Houston, TX, USA

    Amnon Sonnenberg, Peter A. Richardson & Neena S. Abraham

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  1. Amnon Sonnenberg
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  2. Peter A. Richardson
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  3. Neena S. Abraham
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Correspondence to Amnon Sonnenberg.

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Sonnenberg, A., Richardson, P.A. & Abraham, N.S. Hospitalizations for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among US Military Veterans 1975–2006. Dig Dis Sci 54, 1740–1745 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-009-0764-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-009-0764-x

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