IBD can occur at any age, but the classical age distribution of new cases is described as a “bell-shaped” with the first and major peak in people of 15-40 years and the second, smaller peak after the age of 55 years. Approximately 10% of IBD patients are younger than 18 years.
Increasing incidence of IBD results in a significant financial burden both personally and nation-wide. On the one hand, during 1999–2017, the overall hospitalization rate for CD and UC decreased among older adults, with a sharper decline in the hospitalization rate for UC [4]. At the same time, rising costs of medications contributed to the annual mean health care costs for patients with IBD to be over 3-fold higher than patients without IBD (approximately $23,000 vs $7000) [5].