RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Colitis describes inflammation in the colon and is classified into defined diseases: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Microscopic colitis, Ischemic colitis and Infectious colitis. The clinical significance of non-specific colitis is unclear as there are limited analysis which report the issue. Notteghem et al. (1993) showed that of 104 patients with non-specific colitis, 52.3% had another episode of symptoms within 3 years. Of these patients 54% were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, 33% with Crohn's disease, and 13% remained unclassified, suggesting that non-specific colitis could be undiagnosed IBD. The objective of this analysis is to determine the clinical course of non-specific colitis through colonoscopy and histologic findings. METHODS: Retrospective observational study with patients underwent colonoscopies during the period from 2009 to 2019, whose biopsies were reported as non-specific colitis. RESULTS: 24 patients (18 women and 6 men) with non-specific colitis undergoing follow-up by the Gastroenterology outpatient clinic were included. The most frequent indications for colonoscopy were abdominal pain (43.7%), blood in stools (26.8%), diarrhea (21.6%) and anemia (7.9%). The mean age was 56.5 years. During follow-up, patients had at least 2 colonoscopies and 4 biopsies per colonic segment. In the male population ascending colon cancer was later diagnosed in 16.7%, another 16.7% were diagnosed with nonspecific chronic ulcerative colitis, 33.3% with eosinophilic colitis, and the rest of the patients were diagnosed with non-specific colitis. From the female group, 5.6% had lymphocytic colitis, 5.6% eosinophilic colitis, 5.6% collagenous colitis, 5.6% Crohn's disease, 5.6% mixed irritable bowel syndrome, and the rest of the patients (72%) had biopsy report of non-specific colitis. CONCLUSIONS: All patients with a histopathological diagnosis of non-specific colitis underwent a second colonoscopy with biopsy, which resulted in a definitive diagnosis of Crohn's disease in 5.6% of women and Ulcerative Colitis in 16.7% of men. This study comes to show that there is an important subgroup of patients who are underdiagnosed. We suggest that patients with non-specific colitis reported on a histopathology report must continue their follow-up by a specialized ward.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects an estimated 1.6 million people in the United States with at least 70,000 new cases per year. In the last 15 years an increase in frequency of IBD cases from 0.30 cases per 100,000 person-years to 1.83 cases per 100,000 person-years has been reported in Mexico. Variables such as early hospitalization at diagnosis, low hemoglobin levels, high values of C-reactive protein (CRP), fecal calprotectin concentration and absence of mucosal healing during evolution define the prognosis of these patients. However, the distance a patient must travel in order to reach a specialized treatment center can become an impediment for a correct diagnosis and treatment, severely impacting the clinical outcome of such patients. METHODS: Observational, cross-sectional, retrospective study. Objective: In patients with IBD, determine the impact of distance between the residence and specialized treatment center on the general clinical outcome. Variables analyzed: sex, age, disease duration, average travel time, distance in kilometers between place of residence and specialized treatment center, Crohn´s Disease (CD) or Ulcerative Colitis (UC), and their respective severity classification scores, as well as number of hospital readmissions per year. The results were evaluated with ANOVA tests, univariate analysis had a 95% confidence index and a significant "p" determined as p < 0.05. RESULTS: The study included 66 patients (45 UC and 21 CD). Mean age 51.15± 17.5 years. The distance between residence and hospital was calculated and classified into 3 quartiles based on proximity: 750km (quartile 3). There was a higher risk among patients in the most distant quartile for the use of biological therapy (OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 0.23- 20.55) and surgery (OR, 2.76, 95% CI 0.49- 15.48). We observed a clear relationship between the number of hospital readmission and the distance quartiles with a p = 0.0047. CONCLUSION: We observed an impact between the distance of residence and specialized treatment center over the patient's clinical outcome. More readmissions, greater disease activity scores, more use of biological therapy and surgery were observed in patients who had to travel more than 750km from their home to their specialized treatment center compared to the other travel quartiles, this with a p = 0.0047.