Inflammatory bowel disease incidence study

In 2007 and 2008, in conjunction with the Bennelong Foundation, The Gutsy Group contributed $70,000 to a study undertaken by research fellow, Dr Jarrad Wilson from the Department of Gastroenterology at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. The goal was to produce the first prospective population-based Australian incidence and study of inflammatory bowel disease.

As a result of this research, Dr Jarrad Wilson was awarded the gold medal in 2008 by the Gastroenterological Society of Australia for the best clinical research for a junior investigator.

The report is titled High Incidence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Australia: A Prospective Population-Based Australian Incidence Study and was published in 2010.

The research was carried out in Greater Geelong, Victoria. The risk population was 259,000, and all 274 general practitioners and specialists working in this area were contacted every twomonths to identify all new cases occurring in one year. The results were:

• 75 new cases of inflammatory bowel disease, 46 Crohn’s disease and 29 ulcerative colitis. The peak incidence occurred between 20-24 years-of-age, with 42 females and 33 males.
• The inflammatory bowel disease incidence rate of 29.3 per 100,000 is the second highest ever reported in the literature, and the Crohn’s disease incidence rate of 17.8 per 100,000 is the highest ever reported.