Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders: Is the minimum age limit for eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases lowering?

Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders constitute a pathology characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the gastrointestinal tract, the symptoms of which vary depending on the affected digestive segments and the involvement of the different layers of the digestive wall. Eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases include subcategories such as eosinophilic esophagitis, eosinophilic gastroenteritis and eosinophilic colitis, and depending on the localization of the eosinophilia, it is possible to group them as mucosal, serosal or muscular disease. Mucosal involvement is the most common. Patients with eosinophilic esophagitis suffer from nutrition intolerance, vomiting, and dysphagia; for patients with eosinophilic gastroenteritis, complaints are abdominal pain, diarrhea and blood in stool; and for patients with eosinophilic colitis, they are typically diarrhea and lower quadrant pain. The disease is typically observed in but not limited to the 3rd to 5th decades. The main therapeutic options include steroids and dietary modification. Between 2011 and 2012, 4 patients were diagnosed in our pediatric gastroenterology department. Two were diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, one with eosinophilic colitis and one with eosinophilic proctocolitis. This study aimed to review eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases in light of the recent studies, referring to children diagnosed with eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseas