Prevalence of Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis and Colitis in a Population-Based Study, From 2012 to 2017

Background & aims: Although eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) has been extensively studied, there have been few epidemiology studies of other eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs). Using a large, population-based database, we investigated epidemiologic features of eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EoGE) and eosinophilic colitis (EoC) in the United State.

Methods: We collected data from a commercial database (Explorys Inc, Cleveland, OH) that provided electronic health records from 26 major integrated U.S. healthcare systems from 1999 to March 2017. We identified a cohort of adult and pediatric patients with EoGE and EoC from March 2012 to March 2017, based on the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms. We calculated the overall prevalence of EoGE and EoC among different patient groups, and performed age- and gender-adjusted analyses to assess for differences in the prevalence of associated medical conditions in patients with EoGE and EoC and control patients (patients in the database between March 2012 and March 2017 without EGID-associated diagnoses).

Results: Of the 35,826,830 individuals in the database, we identified 1820 patients with EoGE and 770 with EoC. The overall prevalence rate of EoGE was 5.1/100,000 persons; the overall prevalence rate of EoC was 2.1/100,000 persons. Each of the non-EoE EGIDs was more prevalent in Caucasians than in African-Americans and Asians, and in female patients than male patients. Although EoGE was more prevalent in children (under 18 years of age) than in adults, EoC was more prevalent in adults (older than 18 years of age). Compared with control patients, individuals with non-EoE EGIDs were more likely to have been diagnosed with other gastrointestinal or allergic disorders.

Conclusions: In a population-based study in the United States, using the Explorys database, we found the overall prevalence rate of EoGE to be 5.1/100,000 persons and the prevalence rate of EoC to be 2.1/100,000; these values are at the lower end of prevalence rates previously reported in the United States.