Purpose: Crohn’s disease (CD) is mainly presenting gastrointestinal symptoms but also may involve perianal diseases, with anal fistula being the most common. Anal fistula surgery performed without recognition that the patient has CD increases the complications such as delayed wound healing and anal sphincter injury. This study aimed to investigate clinical symptoms and surgical findings that could allow early diagnosis of CD in patients aged 10 to 19 years who underwent anal fistula surgery. Methods: Among the 320 patients under the age of 19 who underwent anal fistula surgery, those who were diagnosed with tuberculosis fistula were excluded, medical records of 316 patients were examined. We investigated the characteristics of anal fistula and postoperative wounds as well as the colonoscopic and surgical findings. Results: Compared to 272 patients not diagnosed with CD (non-CD group), 44 patients diagnosed with CD (CD group) showed significantly higher levels of C-reactive protein as well as anal discharge, family history of inflammatory bowel disease, history of anal fistula, diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, complex anal fistula, recurred anal fistula, delayed wound healing and friable/edematous/granulation of surgical site. Conclusion For patients aged 10–19 years with anal fistulas, emphasizing early suspicion and an active diagnostic work-up is essential for early diagnosis of CD.

Background: Reproductive factors such as childbirth, gravidity, age of menarche, breastfeeding, and use of oral contraceptives could affect the risk of cardiovascular disease in women. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between reproductive factors and cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women in Korea. Methods: This study included 2,310 women aged ≥45 years who experienced natural menopause and participated in the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016–2017). Cardiovascular disease was defined as myocardial infarction, angina, and stroke. Coronary heart disease was defined as myocardial infarction and angina. Logistic regression was performed to calculate the odds ratio of cardiovascular disease with respect to each reproductive factor. Results: Women who breastfed for longer duration (≥24 months) group had a 3-fold higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 4–5-fold higher risk of coronary heart disease than those in the non-breastfeeding group. One-time pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease than gravidity of 6. Early menarche (≤11 years of age) was associated with a high risk of stroke. Women who had a history of using oral contraceptives were at low risk of stroke. Conclusion Breastfeeding, low gravidity, and early menarche were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, whereas use of oral contraceptives was associated with reduced risk of stroke. However, some of these results were different from previous reports. Therefore, further studies are needed to identify the relationship between reproductive factors and cardiovascular disease in women.