---
title: "Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - Sapience Financial"
description: "Learn about Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis, chronic gastrointestinal disorders causing inflammation in the intestines. Discover how Australia has a high rate of inflammatory bowel disease."
url: "https://www.sapience.com.au/cost-burden-of/inflammatory-bowel-disease"
date: "2026-05-26T02:48:20+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

Reading Time: 1 minute

## Inflammatory bowel disease

The most common inflammatory bowel diseases are **Crohn's disease** (CD) and **Ulcerative Colitis** (UC) **both are chronic gastrointestinal disorders** that cause the intestines to become inflamed.

Australia has one of the highest rates of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the world with 80,000 individuals living with the condition

In most cases, IBD starts before the age of 35 years.

- Around 25% of people with IBD have a first-degree relative with the disease.

People with a family history have a much higher risk than those in the general population:

- The likelihood of developing **Crohn's disease** is 1 in 10000 chance from age 20 to 79 years.
- The likelihood of developing **Ulcerative colitis** is 1 in 1429 chance from age 20 to 70 years.
- **Individuals from a family with a history of IBD 5 to 10%** chance of occurring over their lifetime.

Bowel surgery is one of the most common types of surgeries for people with Crohn's disease and involves the removal of a section of the patient's small or large intestines.

#### Looking to the Future

 Recent research suggests that **having IBD may raise the risk of heart attack**, even in the absence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Surprisingly, younger patients (less than 40 years of age) are at the highest risk compared to older adults. — *Everyday Health May 2018*

![inflammatory bowel disease cost to care sapience financial](https://www.sapience.com.au/images/cost-to-care/inflammatory-bowel-disease-cost-to-care-sapience-financial.svg)

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