engleski

Arterial stiffness in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease

Introduction Arterial stiffness increases with age. Various factors, including chronic inflammation, enhance this process. Adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have increased arterial stiffness despite the lower influence of other risk factors. It is not clear at which age these changes start. This study aims to determine if there are visible changes in arteries of IBD patients as early as childhood and adolescence. Methods To identify subclinical changes in the arterial walls, we measured aortic pulse wave velocity (PWVao) using Arteriograph (Tensiomed) oscillometric device. We included in the study 70 children (7 to 18 years – mean age 14.39±2.93 years), divided into three groups – patients with active IBD (N=15), in clinical remission (N=35), and healthy subjects (N=20). We used the Student’s t-test for comparisons. Results We did not observe a significant difference comparing PWVao in children and adolescents with IBD (PWVao=6.15±0.90 m/s) and healthy subjects (P=0.83). We came to a similar observation comparing patients with the active disease with dose in clinical remission (PWVao= 6.09±0.74m/s, 6.21±0.80 m/s, respectively) (P=0.50). Likewise, there was no significant difference between PWVao of patients with active disease and healthy subjects. Arterial stiffness did not differ in patients with Crohn disease (N=30 ; PWVao=6.18±0.66 m/s), ulcerative colitis (N=18 ; PWVao= 5.94±1.11 m/s) and controls (P=0.44). Two children had inflammatory bowel disease unclassified. Conclusions arterial stiffness in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease remains unchanged, which opens a possibility to prevent accelerated arterial vessel ageing apparent in adult IBD patients.

arterial stiffness ; children ; inflammatory bowel disease

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