Clinical and Laboratory ObservationUse of C-Reactive Protein in Children with Newly Diagnosed Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Section snippets
Methods
This study was conducted between January 2005 and December 2008. Research Ethics Board approval was obtained at both centers. Charts of patients with newly diagnosed IBD were reviewed. Diagnosis was based on the usual clinical, radiologic, endoscopic, and histological criteria.3 The few patients with indeterminate colitis were not included. Disease location was classified using the Montreal classification system.8 Disease activity was determined using the Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Activity
Results
A total of 258 patients (40% with UC and 60% with CD) with newly diagnosed IBD were included into the study (Table I). Comparisons of subjects with elevated CRP values showed that subjects with CD with isolated colonic disease were more likely to have a lower CRP compared with those with isolated ileal disease [mean log(CRP) of isolated ileal disease vs mean log(CRP) of isolated colonic disease, P = .02] or ileocolonic disease [mean log(CRP) of ileocolonic disease vs mean log(CRP) of isolated
Discussion
The addition of CRP to a complete blood count, albumin level, and ESR identifies most patients with IBD. The one exception is patients with mild UC, many of whom have normal blood test results. Many patients with moderate/severe UC still maintain normal complete blood count, albumin, ESR and CRP values. The differences among the subtypes of IBD may be related to the lack of transmural inflammation in UC.11 Although some newer stool tests are available, even these tests do not differentiate
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.