Abstract Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) imposes a significant global health and socio-economic burden due to the associated morbidity, diminished quality of life, and long-term complications. Accordingly, evaluating the temporal trends in the burden of IBD is of paramount importance as it enables risk stratification and directed interventions. Methods Temporal trends in the age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR) and age-standardised disability-adjusted life years rate (ASDR) in Western Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe for the period 1990-2023 were evaluated by retrieving data from the Global Burden of Disease database. Joinpoint regression analysis was performed to calculate the Annual Percent Change (APC) and the Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC). Results Over a span of 33 years, an estimated total of 2,796,011 IBD cases with female predominance 51.4% were reported across Europe. Western Europe accounted for the vast majority of cases (76.6%). A statistically significant increase in the ASIR was noted across Europe with Central Europe experiencing the highest increase (AAPC 0.59, 95%CI 0.56 to 0.61, p 0.001) followed by Eastern Europe (AAPC 0.52, 95%CI 0.51 to 0.53, p 0.001) and Western Europe (AAPC 0.47, 95%CI 0.44 to 0.49, p 0.001). Stratification by gender revealed a statistically significant increase in the ASIR in both males and females with the latter experiencing a higher degree of incline across the 3 regions. The total estimated DALY in Europe was 12,462,448 across Europe with Western Europe accounting for 72.8% of total DALY. Interestingly, a variation in the temporal trends in the ASDR was observed across the 3 regions. Western Europe encountered a statistically significant increase in the ASDR with a AAPC of 0.43 (95%CI 0.34 to 0.52, p 0.001). On the other hand, Central Europe and Eastern Europe experienced a statistically significant decline in the ASDR with an AAPC of -0.16 and -0.88, respectively. Gender stratification revealed similar trends with males experiencing a higher degree of change in the ASDR in comparison to females. Conclusion Over the period of 1990-2023, Europe experienced an alarming and significant increase in the incidence of IBD across all of its regions. In terms of disease burden, a variation between the regions was observed that warrants further evaluation to determine the precipitating factors. Conflict of interest: Abdulelah, Ahmed: No conflict of interest Pollok, Richard: I have no potential Conflict of Interest in the past 3 years including grants, honoraria, shares, paid positions, advisory boards, personal fees or non-financial support
Abdulelah et al. (Thu,) studied this question.