Crohn's disease is a 55% chance the other will too. The incidence of Crohn's disease is increasing in Europe and in newly industrialised countries. For example, in Brazil, there has been an annual increase of 11% in the incidence of Crohn's disease since 1990. Inflammatory bowel diseases were described by Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682–1771) and by Scottish physician T. Kennedy Dalziel in 1913. "Ileitis terminalis" was first described by Polish surgeon Antoni Leśniowski in 1904, although it was not conclusively distinguished from intestinal tuberculosis. In Poland, it is still called Leśniowski-Crohn's disease (). Burrill Bernard Crohn, an American gastroenterologist at New York
Burrill Bernard Crohn help his father, Theodore, who suffered from severe indigestion. Crohn married Lucile Pels in 1912, and had two children, Edward Crohn (1917-2013), a physician, and Ruth Crohn Dickler (1914-2016) a New York City resident, known for her philanthropy. They divorced in 1927. He later married Rose Blumenthal in 1948. In addition to practicing medicine, Crohn enjoyed painting and studying history of the American Civil War. Crohn's watercolors were frequently displayed in galleries in New Milford, Connecticut. Crohn practiced medicine until he was 90, splitting time in his later years between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country home