Increasing Pediatricians' Awareness of the Association between Anal Skin Tags and Earlier Diagnosis of Crohn's Disease

Burton I Korelitz; Bernard Partiula; Kelly Teagle; Arun Swaminath; Judy Schneider; Martin Ellington; Guillaume Stoffels

doi:10.1159/000492921

Increasing Pediatricians' Awareness of the Association between Anal Skin Tags and Earlier Diagnosis of Crohn's Disease

Inflamm Intest Dis. 2018 Nov;3(1):40-42. doi: 10.1159/000492921. Epub 2018 Oct 4.

Authors

Burton I Korelitz¹, Bernard Partiula², Kelly Teagle¹, Arun Swaminath¹, Judy Schneider¹, Martin Ellington³, Guillaume Stoffels⁴

Affiliations

¹ Inflammatory Bowel Disease Service, Division of Gastroenterology, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To seek the habits of pediatricians by which anorectal skin tags (AST) of Crohn's disease might be overlooked.

Methods: Questionnaires were sent to pediatricians affiliated with the Northwell Health System.

Results: Based on the responses, the majority of pediatricians did feel the abdomen of children presenting with abdominal pain or diarrhea but did not spread the buttocks to seek the presence of AST unless there was rectal pain, rectal bleeding, or, in some cases, loose stools.

Conclusions: The diagnosis of Crohn's disease could be made earlier when asymptomatic AST are searched for in children with gastrointestinal symptoms.

Keywords: Anal skin tags; Crohn's disease; Earlier diagnosis.