Epidemiological Profile of IBD in the Northern Region: "Pilot Study"

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to three chronic inflammatory disorders, ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn disease (CD) and indeterminate colitis. Classically IBD is described as a disease of rich countries, and historical data on the geographical distribution of IBD around the world have shown a high incidence and prevalence in high-income countries, like Northern Europe and the USA. More recently, IBD emerged with increasing frequency in many parts of the planet especially in developing countries [1], including Morocco, becoming a global infection. UC remains more frequent than CD except in certain countries including France [2]. Although progress has recently been made, particularly in the genetic field, in understanding their physiopathology, the cause(s) of these two diseases remains unknown to date. A better knowledge of the descriptive epidemiology of IBD, in particular the differences in incidence in relation to time, age or geographical distribution, can lead to etiological leads. Study the epidemiology of IBD is a challenge, in part because it is difficult to diagnose, but it is important because of its direct and indirect costs. Data from Moroccan studies remain rare. Our study on the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the first in the northern region.