Development of Crohn’s disease in husband and wife: the role of major psychological stress

Th e infl uence of environmental factors on the development of Crohn's disease (CD) is well established. Th e development of CD in a married couple might be an example underlying the importance of environmental factors involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. So far, scattered cases of the appearance of CD during the period of marriage in both the husband and wife appeared in the literature [1-3]. We describe the case of a husband and wife who developed severe CD soon aft er they had divorced. Five years aft er their divorce, one of their children, a boy, now aged 20, developed CD of the terminal ileum. To our knowledge, no similar cases have been described so far.