Global IBD Visualization of Epidemiology Studies (GIVES) in the 21st Century (GIVES-21)

Investigators aim to study the incidence, demographic factors, and disease outcomes of IBD patients, environmental and dietary factors associated with IBD in 19 regions globally. Via the web registration, investigators intend to form a new prospective, uniformly diagnosed, population-based inception cohort of patients with IBD. Physicians, gastroenterologists, family doctors, surgeons and pathologists in the study area will be notified repeatedly about the study by letter, telephone, internet, personal visit of the investigators, and encouraged to inform investigators of every possible new case of IBD. Endoscopic, pathology and radiology records will be canvassed repeatedly for likely cases, both electronically and manually. By these methods, investigators intend to capture over 90% of possible cases. All patients are required to meet the diagnostic criteria for IBD on the basis of clinical symptoms, endoscopic or radiological evidence or mucosal biopsies. Infectious gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, entamoeba and cancer have to be ruled out. The web-based database application will be used for online registration of the various registration forms and questionnaires and the database is located on a central secured server. With the data collected, an online interactive atlas will be created which allows the community to visualize the most up-to-date epidemiology of IBD with the aims to promotes knowledge translation and research endeavours of stakeholders and provide infrastructure, resources, and expertise to define Crohn's disease burden in regions of the world where the disease is emerging.