Tag Archives: Ulcerative colitis

Emigration -One Way to Acquire Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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A recent study (Shitrit AB, et al. Inflamm Bowel Ds 2015; 21: 631-35) highlights the phenomenon of acquiring inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by moving from a non-developed country to a developed country; the implication is that the changes in environment and diet predispose towards the development of IBD.

This study examined Ethiopian Jews who migrated to Israel.  Using a case-control study, the authors compared 32 Ethiopian immigrants to 33 Ashkenazi patients with IBD.

Key findings:

  • No Ethiopian immigrants had a positive family history compared with 42% of Ashkenazi group.
  • Crohn’s disease was more prevalent in the Ethiopian immigrants: 94% versus 73%.
  • The Ethiopian immigrants lived in Israel for at least 8 years before developing IBD an da median duration of 13 years.

The study discusses the difficulty of diagnosing IBD in rural Africa but speculates that rather than an underdiagnosis of IBD, it is likely to have a true low prevalence of IBD.

Take-home message: It takes many years for the environment exposures to allow for the development of IBD.  Additional work is needed to establish the clinical, genetic, and microbial factors that influence the acquisition of IBD in immigrants to developing countries.  Understanding the susceptibility of immigrants would have widespread application.

Related blog posts:

Accelerated Infliximab Dosing in Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis -plus one link

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A small retrospective study (n=50) suggests that more rapid induction with infliximab may improve response and lower colectomy rate in acute severe ulcerative colitis (UC).

Link: Accelerated Infliximab in Acute UC

Here’s the abstract:

Background & Aims

Administration of infliximab to patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) (rescue therapy) can reduce the rate of early colectomy (within 12 months), but long-term rates of colectomy are the same as those of the pre-biologic era for these patients. The half-life of infliximab is shorter in patients with ASUC than in patients with non-severe UC, so more frequent dosing might be required to produce a therapeutic effect.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of 50 hospitalized patients who received infliximab for steroid-refractory ASUC at a single academic center from September 2005 through 2013. In 2011 an accelerated dosing strategy for infliximab was introduced; we compared outcomes of standard and accelerated dosing regimens. One group of patients (n = 35) were placed on a standard dosing regimen for infliximab and then given the drug at 0, 2, and 6 weeks and then every 8 weeks thereafter. A second group (n = 15) were placed on an accelerated regimen and received 3 induction doses of infliximab within a median period of 24 days. Rates of colectomy were compared between the groups during induction and follow-up periods.

Results

There were no differences between groups in median baseline levels of C-reactive protein, albumin, or hemoglobin. The rate of colectomy during induction therapy was significantly lower with the accelerated regimen (6.7%, 1 of 15) than with the standard regimen (40%, 14 of 35) (Fisher exact test, P = .039). The standard regimen was associated with shorter time to colectomy (log-rank test, P = .042). Among patients who completed induction therapy, subsequent need for colectomy was similar between the groups during the follow-up period. Multivariate analysis showed that factors independently associated with successful induction therapy were level of albumin (g/L) when the treatment began (P = .003) and the accelerated dosing regimen (P = .03).

Conclusions

In patients with ASUC, an accelerated infliximab induction strategy reduces the need for early colectomy. An intensified infliximab dosing strategy in response to clinical or laboratory signs of breakthrough inflammation merits consideration in prospective studies.

One other link: IBD and College: Do the two play nicely (from Jeremy Adler and UofM) -describes college transition issues for our IBD patients.  Probably the most important piece of advice: “Take your medicine.”  Many really good kids decide to see what happens off therapy, often to their detriment.

Increased Narcotic Usage in Pediatric Patients with IBD

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A summary from the AGA Journals Blog of a recent article highlights the increased use of chronic narcotics, not related to surgery, in pediatric patients with IBD.

Here’s a link:  Chronic Use of Narcotics in Children with IBD and here’s an excerpt:

Jessie P. Buckley et al used data from a large insurance claims database, collected from 2010 through 2011, to compare the prescription narcotic use among children (younger than 18 years old) with and without IBD who were not undergoing surgery. Buckley et al also searched for factors associated with narcotic treatment of pediatric patients with IBD.

Of 4344 children with IBD during the study period, 63% had Crohn’s disease, and 37% had ulcerative colitis.

Buckley et al found that 5.6% among children with IBD vs 2.3% in the general population received chronic narcotic therapy. Associations between IBD and narcotic use revealed a particularly high burden among children with concomitant anxiety or depression.

Cover of Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Cover of Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology –The pills look cool but wrong age depicted

Not So Promising: FMT for Ulcerative Colitis

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After initial reports suggesting that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) may be helpful for ulcerative colitis (UC), more recent data suggest that it is not so promising (JPGN 2015; 60: 27-29, editorial 3).

In this open-label, prospective study of four patients, all boys aged 13-16 years, patients tolerated a single-dose FMT (via nasogastric tube) without adverse effects but there was no significant clinical or laboratory improvement.

The article provides a number of references regarding the experience of FMT for UC.

Related blog posts:

IBD Incidence Increasing: 30 Years of Data from Manitoba

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A recent study (JPGN 2014; 59: 763-66) shows a steady trend of increased incidence of IBD in Manitoba. This figure is available online:

 

Increasing IBD Incidence in Children

Increasing IBD Incidence in Children from JPGNonline

Abstract:

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children <17 years of age in 30 years from 1978 to 2007.

Methods: From January 1, 1978, to December 31, 2007, the sex- and age-adjusted annual incidence and prevalence of pediatric IBD per 100,000 population were calculated based on the pediatric IBD database of the only pediatric tertiary center in the province. The annual health statistics records for the Province of Manitoba were used to calculate population estimates for the participants. To ensure validity of data, the University of Manitoba IBD Epidemiology Database was analyzed for patients <17 years of age from 1989 to 2000.

Results: The sex- and age-adjusted incidence of pediatric Crohn disease has increased from 1.2/100,000 in 1978 to 4.68/100,000 in 2007 (P < 0.001). For ulcerative colitis, the incidence has increased from 0.47/100,000 in 1978 to 1.64/100,000 in 2007 (P < 0.001). During the same time period, the prevalence of Crohn disease has increased from 3.1 to 18.9/100,000 (P < 0.001) and from 0.7 to 12.7/100,000 for ulcerative colitis (P < 0.001). During the last 5 years of the study the average annual incidence of IBD in urban patients was 8.69/100,000 as compared with 4.75/100,000 for rural patients (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: The incidence and prevalence of pediatric IBD are increasing. The majority of patients were residents of urban Manitoba, confirming the important role of environmental factors in the etiopathogenesis of IBD.

Unrelated: As a bonus for those who made it to the bottom of this post : there’s a new Bristol Stool App for iPhones.  Here’s the link: http://www.bristol-stool-scale.com (from John Pohl’s twitter feed)

 

Enthusiasm for Vedolizumab

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A recent GI & Hepatology News article quoted several leading IBD researchers stating that they consider Vedolizumab a first-line biologic therapy for ulcerative colitis.  Here’s the link:

Vedolizumab for UC

Here’s an excerpt:

Dr. Feagan presented outcome results after 80 and 104 weeks of vedolizumab treatment of 278 patients with ulcerative colitis who had completed a full year of treatment during the GEMINI 1 trial [Phase 3, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Blinded, Multicenter Study of the Induction and Maintenance of Clinical Response and Remission by Vedolizumab in Patients with Moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis] (N. Engl. J. Med. 2013;369:699-710). He reported that the percentage of patients in clinical remission grew from 66% after 52 weeks on treatment (the time of entry into the long-term phase of the study), to 77% after 80 weeks, which then dropped to 73% after 104 weeks. Patients with a clinical response increased from 78% after 52 weeks to 88% after 80 weeks, and then dropped to 83% after 104 weeks.

During weeks 53-104 on treatment the rates of adverse events, serious adverse events, serious infections, adverse events resulting in treatment discontinuation, enteric infections, and malignancies were all low and similar to the event rates seen among the patients randomized to placebo in the GEMINI 1 study.

The results suggest that with vedolizumab treatment of inflammatory bowel disease “once you achieve an effect it is long-lasting,” Dr. Rutgeerts said in an interview. But he cautioned that the long-lasting efficacy was achieved with treatment every 4 weeks. While this approach was safe, it would also be expensive in routine practice, he noted. “The safety looks good, but the cost would be very high.”

“A key concept of vedolizumab is that it builds efficacy over time,” commented Dr. Silvio Danese during a talk at the meeting. “Vedolizumab is not the fastest runner, but [treating inflammatory bowel disease] is a marathon, and the important thing is getting to the finish”

Bottomline: Head-to-head trials would be helpful to determine which biologic agent should be considered first-line.

Related blog posts:

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IBD in Ontario: 1 in 200

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A recent study notes an increasing incidence of and high prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Ontario, Canada (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2014; 20: 1761-69).

This article notes that between 1999-2008, there was an increased incidence of IBD from 21.3 to 26.2 per 100,000.  This affected most age groups less than 65 years, but increased most rapidly in children younger than 10 years (increased 9.7% per year).  The highest incidence remained in adults aged 20 to 29 years. The overall prevalence in Ontario was estimated to be 1 in 200 overall, which is among the highest in the world.  This study relied on a validated health administrative data consisting of all Ontario residents.

The potential for misclassification bias is discussed and the potential difficulties with administrative health data is detailed in three related editorials (pages 1777-79, 1780-81, 182-83).  The editorials are helpful, in part, because a separate study in the same journal (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2014; 20: 1770-76) indicates that the incidence of Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis declined in Quebec between 2001-08. However, the authors of this study used less-rigorous methods and had a much shorter “washout” period (two years versus eight years).

At the end of the day, with conflicting studies, there remains some uncertainty with regard to IBD epidemiology.  That being said, the first study notes that “75% of CD studies and 60% of UC studies had reported increased incidence in the adult populations.”

This leads back to the question of what environmental exposures are leading to these changes in incidence.

Bottomline: This article and the associated editorials helps highlight the difficulties of using administrative health data and why many data points are needed to assess the epidemiology of IBD.  In all likelihood, the incidence of IBD is increasing.

Related blog post: Global increases in IBD incidence | gutsandgrowth

 

ImproveCareNow Video

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A recent (short ~2:30) ImproveCareNow (ICN) Video explains how ImproveCareNow is a forward-thinking network and how it has the potential to lead to better outcomes for children with inflammatory bowel disease.

If you are part of ICN, this video may help explain to your patients what ICN is all about.

Early Results of FMT for IBD -Any Efficacy?

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As more data emerges on fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for inflammatory bowel disease in well-designed trials, it is not clear if FMT will be effective.  A summary of some recent abstracts is available at this link to Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News: Fecal Transplants for IBD Show Mixed Results in Trials

One trial with 53 patients with mild to moderate UC (27 randomized to FMT, 26 to placebo) once weekly for six weeks showed similar results in both groups with 7 FMT patients and 8 placebo recipients experiencing improvement of at least 30% in their Mayo scores.  Dr. Lawrence Brandt said, “It may be that we need to look at the patient’s unique bacterial composition and determine which organisms need to be replaced and formulate FMT accordingly.”

Related blog posts:

More Data on Early-Onset Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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In 2009, a large prospective database involving Italian Pediatric Gastroenterologists was established.  A recent study describes the classification (Paris) and phenotype of early-onset pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (EO-IBD) (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2014; 20: 597-605).

In 506 consecutive patients, 224 had Crohn’s disease (CD), 245 ulcerative colitis (UC) and 37 IBD-unclassified.

Key findings:

  • 11% were aged 0-5 years, 39% 6-11 years, 50% were 12-18 years.
  • UC was more frequently diagnosed in 0-11 years of age whereas as CD was more common in 12-18 years.
  • EO-Crohn’s showed more frequent isolated colonic disease
  • EO-UC noted 62% with pancolitis compared with 38% in 6-11 years and 31% in 12-18 year group

Take-home message: The authors conclude that “EO-IBD exhibits an extensive phenotype and benefit from aggressive treatment strategies, although surgical risk is similar to later-onset disease. A family history for IBD is not common in EO disease.”