Mostly hereditary and often caused by abnormal immune system response to the viral or bacterial invasion, Crohn’s disease is categorized under inflammatory bowel diseases. Apart from these, the other risk factors of Crohn’s disease include age, gender, ethnicity, environmental factors and so on. Medical experts have not been able to diagnose the exact cause of this ailment.

Although stress and an unbalanced diet have often been assumed to cause Crohn’s disease, these factors only aggravate the symptoms of the disease. There is no specific part of the digestive system that is affected by Crohn’s disease; it has been observed that the disease affects different parts of the digestive system in different people. Crohn’s disease causes the digestive tract to be inflamed leading to pain in the abdomen, extreme diarrhea, malnutrition, weight loss, and fatigue.

Crohn’s disease is a chronic condition without any known cure. Although the disease is debilitating and can sometimes lead to painful and life-threatening complications, therapeutic treatments can help to alleviate the symptoms. The disease can often go into remission for a long duration of the correct treatment. Since prevention is better than cure, it is always best to know whether you have any of the risk factors of Crohn’s disease so that you can take some pre-emptive measures to prevent the occurrence of the disease.

• Gender: It has been observed that women are more prone to Crohn’s disease compared to men. On the contrary, among young children, boys are more susceptible to this condition than girls. During puberty, that is between the age of 14 and 17 years, the disease becomes predominantly female from male. This might happen due to hormonal changes that increase the risk factors of Crohn’s disease in women.
• Age: Crohn’s disease is more common among adults. The disease generally affects a person between 15 and 35 years. In adults, the disease manifests in the form narrowing or tunneling of the small intestines or the colon. The symptoms that occur among adults include weight loss, abdominal pain, fever, and diarrhea. Children are at a low risk of this disease; it has been observed that family history and genetics play a huge role in children diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Seniors or elderly individuals have fewer risk factors for Crohn’s disease.
• Ethnicity: Race and ethnicity are one of the significant risk factors for Crohn’s disease. It has been observed that Ashkenazi Jews are at a greater risk of suffering from the symptoms of this disease than anyone. However, in recent times, it has been observed that African Americans have started reporting Crohn’s disease.
• Environmental factors: Crohn’s disease is majorly a genetic disorder. However, not everyone inherits the disease in their lifetimes. The disease may lie dormant in a lot of people until certain environmental conditions trigger the autoimmune system to overreact to viral, bacterial or any other invasion to the body. It is not yet known what environmental factors can trigger Crohn’s disease in a person.