Variables associated with progression of moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVE: Determine the variables associated with hospitalisations in patients with Crohn's disease and those associated with surgery, intestinal resection, hospital readmission, need for multiple operations and immunobiological agent use. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2019 to 2021, using two centres for inflammatory bowel diseases in the Brazilian Public Health System. RESULTS: This study included 220 patients. Only perianal disease was associated with hospitalisation (31.6% vs 13.0%, p=0.012). Stricturing or penetrating behaviour (35.8% vs 12.6%, p<0.001) and perianal disease (45.9% vs 9.9%, p<0.001) were associated with surgery. Ileal or ileocolonic location (80.0% vs 46.5%, p=0.044) and stricturing or penetrating behaviour (68.0% vs 11.2%, p<0.001) were associated with intestinal resection. Steroids use at first Crohn's disease occurrence and postoperative complications were associated with hospital readmission and need for multiple operations, respectively. Age below 40 years at diagnosis (81.3% vs 62.0%, p=0.004), upper gastrointestinal tract involvement (21.8% vs 10.3%, p=0.040) and perianal disease (35.9% vs 16.3%, p<0.001) were associated with immunobiological agent use. CONCLUSION: Perianal disease and stricturing or penetrating behaviour were associated with more than one significant outcome. Other variables related to Crohn's disease progression were age below 40 years at diagnosis, an ileal or ileocolonic disease localisation, an upper gastrointestinal tract involvement, the use of steroids at the first Crohn's disease occurrence and history of postoperative complications. These findings are similar to those in the countries with a high prevalence of Crohn's disease.

Adherence to Medical Treatment in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients from a Referral Center in Bahia-Brazil.

METHODS: Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional studies carried out from June/2017 to July/2018, with questionnaire application and medical record review at a referral center in inflammatory bowel diseases in Salvador, Bahia. The Morisky Green Levine Scale was applied to assess adherence. Mean, standard deviation, and frequency analyses were performed using the statistical package SPSS, and chi-square was used to evaluate the association between categorical variables and adherence degree to treatment. Significant associations were considered with p < 0.05. RESULTS: 302 patients with inflammatory bowel diseases were included. Nonadherence was highlighted in the sample. Most part of the study population was female, declared themselves to be mixed race, claimed to be from urban areas, and married. Nonadherence was more frequent than adherence in most sociodemographic variables of the present study. Nonadherence also stood out among the clinical variables, such as disease activity, drug side effect, and use of more than two additional medications. The association between all studied variables and adherence degree to treatment, considering the general sample, did not show statistical significance. When Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients were evaluated separately, a statistically significant association between nonadherence and female patients with ulcerative colitis was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The high frequency of nonadherence was observed in the studied sample. Female gender was associated to nonadherence in the subpopulation with ulcerative colitis.

Frequency of Hepatobiliary Manifestations and Concomitant Liver Disease in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients.

BACKGROUND: In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients there are reports of the occurrence of hepatobiliary manifestations, so the aim of this study was to evaluate the hepatobiliary manifestations in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) from an IBD reference center. METHODS: Cross-sectional study in an IBD reference center, with interviews and review of medical charts, between July 2015 and August 2016. A questionnaire addressing epidemiological and clinical characteristics was used. RESULTS: We interviewed 306 patients, and the majority had UC (53.9%) and were female (61.8%). Hepatobiliary manifestations were observed in 60 (19.6%) patients with IBD. In the greater part of the patients (56.7%) hepatobiliary disorders were detected after the diagnosis of IBD. In UC (18.2%) patients, the hepatobiliary disorders identified were 11 (6.7%) non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, 9 (5.5%) cholelithiasis, 6 (3.6%) primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), 3 (1.8%) hepatotoxicity associated with azathioprine, 1 (0.6%) hepatitis B, and 1 (0.6%) hepatic fibrosis. In CD (21.3%) patients, 11 (7.8%) had cholelithiasis, 11 (7.8%) non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, 4 (2.8%) PSC, 3 (2.1%) hepatotoxicity, 1 (0.7%) hepatitis B, (0.7%) hepatitis C, 1 (0.7%) alcoholic liver disease, and 1 (0.7%) autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). There was one case of PSC/AIH overlap syndrome. CONCLUSION: The frequency of hepatobiliary disorders was similar in both forms of IBD in patients evaluated. The most common nonspecific hepatobiliary manifestations in IBD patients were non-alcoholic liver disease and cholelithiasis. The most common specific hepatobiliary disorder was PSC in patients with extensive UC or ileocolonic CD involvement; this was seen more frequently in male patients.

Manifestações do trato gastrointestinal superior em pacientes com doença inflamatória intestinal atendidos em serviço de referência em Salvador - BA / Upper gastrointestinal tract manifestations in inflammatory bowel disease patients from one reference service in Salvador - BA

Introdução: a Doença Inflamatória Intestinal (DII) se manifesta em duas principais formas: doença de Crohn (DC) e retocolite ulcerativa (RCU). O quadro clínico clássico da DII compreende dor abdominal, diarreia e perda ponderal. Além da apresentação habitual, os pacientes podem apresentar, no decorrer da doença, manifestações do trato gastrointestinal superior (TGS) como: dispepsia, dor epigástrica, plenitude pós-prandial, pirose, náuseas, regurgitação, aftas orais, vômitos, disfagia, odinofagia e hematêmese. Objetivo: descrever as manifestações do TGS em pacientes com DII em um centro de referência da Bahia. Métodos: estudo transversal realizado no período de julho de 2015 a agosto de 2016 no ambulatório de DII do Hospital Geral Roberto Santos (HGRS). A coleta de dados foi por um questionário objetivo e revisão de prontuários. Foram avaliadas variáveis do ponto de vista epidemiológico e clínico. O estudo foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do Hospital Geral Roberto Santos. As variáveis foram analisadas utilizando o pacote estatístico SPSS versão 21.0. Resultados: foram incluídos 306 pacientes. O sexo feminino foi mais prevalente tanto na DC (63,1%) quanto na RCU (60,6%). Dos 306 pacientes analisados, 141 tinham diagnóstico de DC e 165 tinham diagnóstico de RCU. Da amostra total, 58,5% apresentaram alguma manifestação do TGS, sendo a frequência semelhante entre DC e RCU. Conclusões: mais da metade dos pacientes com DII apresentou pelo menos uma manifestação do TGS, sendo que as manifestações mais frequentes foram: pirose, dor epigástrica, dispepsia e plenitude pós-prandial. DC e RCU apresentaram frequências semelhantes dessas manifestações. Estes sintomas devem ser atentamente questionados, pois é fundamental o seu reconhecimento precoce para o manejo adequado.

Introduction: inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) manifests itself in two main forms: Crohns disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The classic clinical presentation of IBD includes abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss. In addition to the usual presentation, patients may presente upper gastrointestinal tract (UGT) manifestations such as: dyspepsia, epigastric pain, postprandial fullness, heartburn, nausea, regurgitation, oral thrush, vomiting, dysphagia, odynophagia and hematemesis. Objective: to describe the manifestations of the UGT in patients with IBD at a reference center in Bahia. Methods: a cross-sectional study conducted from July 2015 to August 2016 at the Hospital Geral Roberto Santos (HGRS) - IBD unit. Data collection was made by an objective questionnaire and review of medical records. Variables from epidemiological and clinical point of view were evaluated. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the HGRS (Salvador - BA). Variables were analyzed using the statistical package SPSS version 21.0. Results: we evaluated 306 patients. Female gender was more prevalent in both CD (63.1%) and UC (60.6%). Of the 306 patients analyzed, 141 had been diagnosed with CD and 167 with UC. Of the total sample, 58.5% had some manifestation of the UGT, being similar between CD and UC. Conclusion: more than half of patients with IBD presented at least one manifestation of the UGT, and the most frequent were: heartburn, epigastric pain, dyspepsia and postprandial fullness. CD and UC presented similar frequencies of these manifestations. These symptoms should be carefully questioned, as it is fundamental their early recognition for the adequate management of these patients.

Thalidomide induces mucosal healing in Crohn's disease: case report.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that is defined by relapsing and remitting episodes. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) appears to play a central role in the pathophysiology of the disease. Standard therapies for inflammatory bowel disease fail to induce remission in about 30% of patients. Biological therapies have been associated with an increased incidence of infections, especially infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Thalidomide is an oral immunomodulatory agent with anti-TNF-α properties. Recent studies have suggested that thalidomide is effective in refractory luminal and fistulizing Crohn's disease. Thalidomide costimulates T lymphocytes, with greater effect on CD8+ than on CD4+ T cells, which contributes to the protective immune response to Mtb infection. We present a case of Crohn's disease with gastric, ileal, colon and rectum involvement as well as steroid dependency, which progressed with loss of response to infliximab after three years of therapy. The thorax computed tomography scan demonstrated a pulmonary nodule suspected to be Mtb infection. The patient was started on thalidomide therapy and exhibited an excellent response.