International Comparison of Mortality from Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the Latin-Speaking Countries Venezuela, Italy, and France

Abstract

Mortality data for ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and unspecified inflammatory bowel disease were examined for the countries Venezuela, Italy, and France during the decade 1969–1978. These figures were compared with similar data from England and Wales obtained from 1965 to 1975. In Italy and France deaths from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis were low and showed little change during the period of observation. Figures for inflammatory bowel disease from Venezuela were high and appeared to show a marked fall which may simply reflect a change in diagnostic criteria.