Diagnosis
Symptoms of IBD depend on the disease location and can range from mild to moderate to severe.14 Common symptoms of CD include diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fatigue; weight loss, fever, growth failure, anemia, recurrent fistulas, or extraintestinal manifestations can also be presenting features.15 For UC, the main symptom is bloody diarrhea, with or without mucus; other symptoms include urgency or tenesmus, abdominal pain, malaise, weight loss, and fever, depending on the extent and severity of disease.16
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), the most common GI condition diagnosed by gastroenterologists, may be mistaken for IBD since IBS symptoms may mimic those seen in a patient with mild IBD, but history and additional diagnostic tests can help rule it out of the differential diagnosis.17 Diagnosis of IBD is a multistage process including physical examination and medical history, endoscopy, lab testing, and cross-sectional imaging.18