Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of patients, according to the age at first surgery
| Age at the first surgery (years) | < 19 (G1) | 20–39 (G2) | 40–59 (G3) | > 60 (G4) | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | 46 (4.47) | 544 (51.8) | 368 (35.0) | 93 (8.8) | |
| Age at first surgery, median years (IQR) | 17 (15–18) | 31 (26–35) | 48 (43–53) | 65 (62–69) | |
| Age at diagnosis, median years (IQR) | 13 (10–16) | 23 (19–28)# | 40 (31–46)# | 58 (49–64)# | 0.0001 |
| Time from diagnosis to abdominal surgery, median years (IQR) | 3 (1–6) | 5 (2–10) | 7 (2–16)* | 9 (2–18)° | 0.0001 |
| Male, n (%) | 33 (71.7) | 287 (52.7) | 185 (50.3) | 49 (52.7) | NS |
| Smoking status at first surgery, n (%) | |||||
| Current | 1 (2.17) | 206 (37.9) | 96 (26.1) | 25 (26.7) | 0.0001 |
| Never | 45 (97.83) | 285 (52.4) | 220 (59.8) | 43 (46.7) | |
| Former | 0 | 12 (9.7) | 52 (14.1) | 25 (26.9) | |
| Family history of IBD, n (%) | 1 (2.2) | 10 (1.8) | 9 (2.4) | 3 (3.2) | NS |
| Disease location, n (%) | |||||
| L1 (ileal) | 30 (65.2) | 238 (43.8) | 164 (44.6) | 40 (43.0) | 0.0083 |
| L2 (colonic) | 2 (4.3) | 55 (10.1) | 39 (10.6) | 17 (18.3) | |
| L3 (ileo-colonic) | 13 (28.3) | 221 (40.6) | 137 (37.2) | 36 (38.7) | |
| L4 (isolated upper disease) | 1 (2.2) | 30 (5.5) | 28 (7.6) | 0 | |
| Disease behaviour, n (%) | |||||
| B1 inflammatory | 15 (32.6) | 124 (22.8) | 61 (16.6) | 21 (22.6) | 0.0013 |
| B2 stricturing | 20 (43.5) | 287 (52.8) | 232 (63.0) | 62 (66.7) | |
| B3 penetrating | 11 (23.9) | 133 (24.4) | 75 (20.4) | 10 (10.8) | |
| P (concomitant perianal disease), n (%) | 4 (8.7) | 52 (9.6) | 41 (11.1) | 6 (6.5) | NS |
| History of perianal abscess, n (%) | 17 (36.9) | 168 (30.9) | 87 (23.6) | 16 (17.2) | 0.0049 |
| History of perianal fistula, n (%) | 27 (58.7) | 278 (51.1) | 171 (46.5) | 25 (26.9) | 0.001 |
| Severe malnutrition requiring preoperative TPN before first surgery, n (%) | 4 (8.7) | 12 (2.2) | 6 (1.6) | 2 (2.1) | 0.0267 |
| Previous long-term (> 3 months) medical treatment before first surgery, n (%) | |||||
| Steroids | 7 (15.2) | 124 (22.8) | 83 (22.5) | 24 (25.8) | NS |
| Anti-TNFα drugs | 2 (4.3) | 9 (1.6) | 16 (4.3) | 5 (5.4) | NS |
| Immunomodulators | 2 (4.3) | 20 (3.7) | 17 (4.6) | 6 (6.4) | NS |
| 5-aminosalicylic acid | 4 (8.7) | 107 (19.7) | 76 (20.6) | 27 (29.0) | 0.0393 |
| Type of surgery | |||||
| -Strictureplasty/ies | 3 (6.5) | 59 (10.8) | 47 (12.8) | 6 (6.35) | 0.0002 |
| -Ileocecal resection | 39 (84.8) | 393 (72.2) | 245 (66.6) | 81 (87.1) | |
| -Ileocecal resection + strictureplasty/ies | 0 | 29 (5.3) | 41 (11.1) | 2 (2.2) | |
| -Other bowel resections | 4 (8.7) | 63 (11.6) | 35 (9.5) | 4 (4.3) | |
| Total length of resected bowel at first surgery, cm | 24 (15–30) | 28 (20–43) | 30 (15–45) | 40 (23.5–55)* | 0.0142 |
| Short-term postoperative complications, n (%) | 3 (6.52%) | 17 (3.13%) | 9 (2.45%) | 5 (5.38%) | NS |
| Days of hospitalization, median (IQR) | 10 (6–18) | 17 (9–26) | 13 (7–22) | 12 (7–17) | 0.0389 |
| Surgical recurrence, n (%) | 14 (30.4) | 174 (32.0) | 91 (24.7) | 15 (16.1) | 0.005 |
| Abdominal surgeries for recurrence, n (%) | 0.0107 | ||||
| 0 (no surgical recurrence) | 32 (69.6) | 370 (68.0) | 277 (75.3) | 78 (83.9) | |
| 1 | 5 (10.9) | 90 (16.5) | 55 (14.9) | 8 (8.6) | |
| ≥ 2 | 9 (19.6) | 84 (15.4) | 36 (9.8) | 7 (7.5) | |
| Type of abdominal recurrence, n (%) | |||||
| -Stricturing | 8 (17.4) | 159 (29.2) | 105 (28.5) | 29 (31.2) | NS |
| -Penetrating | 17 (37.0) | 179 (32.9) | 111 (30.2) | 25 (26.9) | NS |
| -Lack of therapeutic response | 0 | 4 (0.7) | 0 | 3 (3.2) | - |
| -Peritonitis | 0 | 3 (0.4) | 0 | 0 | - |
| -Other | 0 | 6 (1.1) | 4 (1.1) | 1 (1.01) | NS |
IQR, interquartile range; NS, not significantly different among groups. TPN, total parenteral nutrition. #p < 0.0001, ° < 0.001 *0.01 vs G1