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BACKGROUND: Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at increased risk of fracture. It is unclear if this risk varies by recent histological activity. AIMS: To determine the fracture risk in IBD during periods with and without histological inflammation. METHODS: We studied a nationwide cohort of 54,591 individuals diagnosed with IBD in 1990-2016 with longitudinal data on ileo-colorectal biopsies. Fractures were identified by inpatient and hospital-based outpatient diagnoses. We derived Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for fracture during 12 months following a histological inflammation (vs. histological remission) record after adjusting for socio-demographics, comorbidities, IBD duration, IBD-related surgery and hospitalization. We adjusted sensitivity analyses for medical IBD treatment including corticosteroids. RESULTS: Mean age of patients was 44.0 (SD = 18.3) and 45.5 (SD = 17.1) years at biopsy with histological inflammation and remission, respectively. For histological inflammation, there were 1.37 (95% CI 1.29-1.46) fractures per 100 years' follow-up versus 1.31 (95% CI 1.19-1.44) for remission (adjusted [a]HR 1.12; 95% CI 1.00-1.26; p = 0.04). HRs were similar with histological inflammation of Crohn's disease (1.11; 95% CI 0.91-1.36) and ulcerative colitis (1.18; 95% CI 1.02-1.36). Estimates were consistent across age groups. An overall small excess risk of any fracture remained after accounting for corticosteroids. A more prominently raised fracture risk was observed in corticosteroid-naïve IBD patients with histological inflammation versus histological remission (aHR 1.41; 95% CI 1.07-1.85). The aHR of hip fracture following histological inflammation was 1.29 (95% CI 0.87-1.92). CONCLUSIONS: Histological inflammation in IBD predicted a small increase in short-term fracture risk. Measures to reduce disease activity may reduce fracture risk in IBD., That study received funding from the Janssen Corporation.

INTRODUCTION: The absence of reliable prognostic markers poses a challenge to the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Patients with aggressive disease may not receive sufficient treatment with conventional 'step-up' therapy, whereas a top-down approach may expose patients with indolent disease to unnecessary treatment-related toxicity. The objective of the Nordic IBD treatment strategy trial (NORDTREAT) is to assess the feasibility of personalised therapy by stratifying patients according to a prognostic serum protein signature at diagnosis. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: NORDTREAT is a multicentre, biomarker-strategy design, open-label controlled trial. After screening consent, eligible patients are randomised (1:1) into one of two groups: a group with access to the protein signature and a group without access. In the access to protein signature group, patients displaying a protein signature suggestive of an increased risk of an aggressive disease course will be treated in line with a top-down treatment algorithm (anti-tumour necrosis factor agent with/without an immunomodulator). In contrast, those with a protein signature indicative of indolent disease will be excluded from the trial. Patients not in the access group receive treatment based on clinical management. This traditional management involves a stepwise escalation of treatment as determined by the investigator after failure of first-line treatment. After 52 weeks, outcomes are assessed in the subgroup of patients with a protein profile indicating a potentially severe disease trajectory. The primary endpoint is a composite of the proportion of patients with corticosteroid-free clinical and endoscopic remission at week 52. Surgical intervention due to IBD during follow-up will be defined as treatment failure. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained, and recruitment is underway at sites in four participating Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). Following trial compl, This work was supported by Nordforsk (grant number 90569 NORDTREAT to JH) and financially supported by Vinnova (grant number 2019-01185 NORDTREAT to JH), Innovation Fund Denmark (rant number 8114-00026B to JK and VA), Rannis (grant number 90569 - Project no. 199782-0611 to LD) and by The Research Council of Norway (grant number 2988039 to MLH). Section for Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Research, the Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital are supported by a core grant from the Oak Foundation (OCAY-18-774-OFIL).

BACKGROUND: Co-occurrence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) has been linked to poor clinical outcomes, but evidence on their bidirectional associations remain scarce. This study aims to investigate their bidirectional associations. METHODS: A nationwide matched cohort and case-control study with IBD patients identified between 1987 and 2017. The cohort study included 20,314 IBD patients (≤28 years; Crohn's disease [CD, n = 7277], ulcerative colitis [UC, n = 10,112], and IBD-unclassified [IBD-U, n = 2925]) and 99,200 individually matched reference individuals, with a follow-up until December 2021. The case-control study enrolled 87,001 IBD patients (no age restriction) and 431,054 matched controls. We estimated adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of incident T1D in the cohort study with flexible parametric survival model and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of having a prior T1D in the case-control study with conditional logistic regression model, with 95% confidence intervals (CI). FINDINGS: During a median follow-up of 14 years, 116 IBD patients and 353 reference individuals developed T1D. Patients with IBD had a higher hazard of developing T1D (aHR = 1.58 [95% CI = 1.27-1.95]). The hazard was increased in UC (aHR = 2.02 [1.51-2.70]) but not in CD or IBD-U. In the case-control study, a total of 1018 (1.2%) IBD patients and 3496 (0.8%) controls had been previously diagnosed with T1D. IBD patients had higher odds of having prior T1D (aOR = 1.36 [1.26-1.46]). Such positive association was observed in all IBD subtypes. The sibling comparison analyses showed similar associations between IBD and T1D (aHR = 1.44 [0.97-2.15] and aOR = 1.32 [1.18-1.49]). INTERPRETATION: Patients with IBD had a moderately increased hazard of developing T1D and higher odds of having prior T1D. Their bidirectional associations may be partially independent of shared familial factors., FUNDING: European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation, Stiftelsen Professor Nanna Svartz Fond, SSMF (project#: PG-23-0315-H-02), Ruth and Richard Julin Foundation; and FORTE (project#: 2016-00424).

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to assess the risk of serious infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treated with vedolizumab compared with those treated with anti-tumor necrosis factors (TNF) and the general population. METHODS: In this Swedish cohort study, treatment episodes were identified from nationwide health registers. We used Cox regression with propensity score-matched cohorts to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for incident serious infections, defined as infections requiring hospital admission. RESULTS: During 1,376 treatment episodes in Crohn's disease, the rate of serious infections per 100 person-years (PY) was 5.18 (95% CI = 3.98-6.63) with vedolizumab vs 3.54 (95% CI = 2.50-4.85) with anti-TNF; HR = 1.72 (95% CI = 1.12-2.65), partly explained by more gastrointestinal infections. Compared with the rate of 0.75/100 PY (95% CI = 0.59-0.92) in a matched general population cohort, vedolizumab demonstrated higher risk (HR = 7.00; 95% CI = 5.04-9.72). During 1,294 treatment episodes in ulcerative colitis, the corresponding rates were 3.74/100 PY (95% CI = 2.66-5.11) with vedolizumab vs 3.42/100 PY (95% CI = 2.31-4.89) with anti-TNF; HR = 0.80 (95% CI = 0.47-1.36) during the initial 1.1 years and HR = 2.03 (95% CI = 0.65-6.32) after 1.1 years (truncated due to nonproportional hazards). Pneumonia accounted for 40% of all infections among anti-TNF, whereas no case was observed among vedolizumab episodes. Compared with the rate of 0.69/100 PYs (95% CI = 0.53-0.87) in a matched general population cohort, vedolizumab showed an HR of 5.45 (95% CI = 3.67-8.11). DISCUSSION: Vedolizumab was associated with increased risks of serious infections compared with anti-TNF in Crohn's disease but not in ulcerative colitis. Nonetheless, the panorama of serious infections seemed to differ between the drugs. Our findings underscore the importance of clinical awareness of infections and the safety profile of the 2 therapies.

Background and Aims: Dysregulation of inflammatory and immune responses has been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure (HF). But even if inflammation is a prerequisite for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), little is known about HF risk in IBD. Methods: In this Swedish nationwide cohort, patients with biopsy-confirmed IBD were identified between 1969 and 2017 [n = 81 749, Crohn's disease (CD, n = 24 303), ulcerative colitis (UC, n = 45 709), and IBD-unclassified (IBD-U, n = 11 737)]. Each patient was matched with up to five general population reference individuals (n = 382 190) and IBD-free full siblings (n = 95 239) and followed until 31 December 2019. Flexible parametric survival models estimated the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and standardized cumulative incidence for HF, with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: There were 5582 incident HF identified in IBD patients (incidence rate [IR]: 50.3/10 000 person-years) and 20 343 in reference individuals (IR: 37.9) during a median follow-up of 12.4 years. IBD patients had a higher risk of HF than reference individuals (aHR 1.19, 95% CI 1.15-1.23). This increased risk remained significant >= 20 years after IBD diagnosis, leading to one extra HF case per 130 IBD patients until then. The increased risk was also observed across IBD subtypes: CD (IR: 46.9 vs. 34.4; aHR 1.28 [1.20-1.36]), UC (IR: 50.1 vs. 39.7; aHR 1.14 [1.09-1.19]), and IBD-U (IR: 60.9 vs. 39.0; aHR 1.28 [1.16-1.42]). Sibling-controlled analyses showed slightly attenuated association (IBD: aHR 1.10 [1.03-1.19]). Conclusions: Patients with IBD had a moderately higher risk of developing HF for >= 20 years after IBD diagnosis than the general population., This study was supported by the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (to J.Sun; grant number: not applicable), Stiftelsen Professor Nanna Svartz fond (to J.Sun; grant number: not applicable), Swedish Society for Medical Research (to J.Sun; grant number: PG-23-0315-H-02), Ruth and Richard Julin Foundation (to J. Sun; grant number: not applicable), FORTE (the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare; to J.F.L.; grant number 2016-00424), the Swiss National Science Foundation (to F.E.; grant numberP500PM_210866), and the Swedish Research Council (to A.R.; grant number VRREG 2019-00193).

Background: Faecal biomarkers can be used to assess inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Aim: To explore the performance of some promising biomarkers in diagnosing and predicting disease course in IBD. Methods: We included 65 patients with treatment-na & iuml;ve, new-onset Crohn's disease (CD), 90 with ulcerative colitis (UC), 67 symptomatic controls (SC) and 41 healthy controls (HC) in this prospective observational study. We analysed faecal samples for calprotectin (FC), myeloperoxidase (MPO), human neutrophil lipocalin (HNL), eosinophil cationic protein ECP and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) and compared markers among groups. We assessed the diagnostic capability of biomarkers with receiver operating characteristic curves. Clinical disease course was determined for each patient with IBD and analysed the association with biomarkers by logistic regression. Results: All markers were elevated at inclusion in patients with IBD compared with HC (p < 0.001) and SC (p < 0.001). FC (AUC 0.85, 95% CI: 0.79-0.89) and MPO (AUC 0.85, 95% CI: 0.80-0.89) showed the highest diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing IBD from SC. The diagnostic ability of biomarkers differed between IBD subtypes with the highest performance for FC and MPO in CD. The diagnostic accuracy was further improved by combining FC and MPO (p = 0.02). Levels of FC, MPO and HNL at inclusion were predictive of an aggressive disease course with MPO showing the strongest association (p = 0.006). Conclusions: This study provides new insight into the diagnostic and prognostic capability of neutrophil and eosinophil biomarkers in IBD and suggests that MPO, alone or in combination with FC, may add to the diagnostic power of faecal biomarkers., This work was supported by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (grant number RB13-016) (J.H.), Swedish Research Council (grant number 2020-02021) (J.H.), the Örebro University Hospital Research Foundation (grant numbers OLL-890291) (J.H.) and Medical Faculty, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden M.C.

Abnormal visceral perception and motor function are often observed in patients with fecal incontinence, evacuation disorders and irritable bowel syndrome. The international anorectal physiology working group has proposed a standardization for anorectal function assessment, where rectal sensitivity testing is performed using an elastic balloon attached to a high-resolution anorectal manometry (HRAM) catheter. Rectal compliance, another component of rectal function evaluation, is a pressure-volume relationship that refers to the rectum's ability to stretch and expand as it receives and holds fecal matter. There are no data available regarding the possibility of compliance testing using HRAM, although this is theoretically possible by correcting for the elastic balloon's intrinsic properties. The gold standard for measurement of visceral sensitivity and compliance is the rectal barostat, according to the procedure described by the European COST action GENIEUR group. Data on the agreement between the two different procedures are scarce. Hence, we performed a comparative study of the HRAM and barostat investigations in 26 healthy individuals. We hypothesized that by inflating the balloon before the examination, rectal compliance can be measured with HRAM investigations, and we examined correlations and levels of agreement between the methods. Our results demonstrate that assessing rectal compliance with HRAM is technically possible; however, a strong correlation with the rectal barostat was only observed at the maximum tolerable volume (Spearman's rho = 0.7, p = 0.02). We only found moderate correlations (Spearman's rho = 0.562, p = 0.019) for compliance according to the barostat methodology and for rectal sensibility testing (Spearman's rho = 0.57, p = 0.03 for maximum tolerable volume). Bland-Altman plots showed poor levels of agreement between the methods. We conclude that HRAM and the rectal barostat cannot be used interchangeably for compliance or sensitivity assess, This research was funded by the Research Committee Region Örebro County, grant numbers OLL-929762, OLL-935240 and OLL-978046, and the Research Fund of the Swedish Gastroenterological Society SLS-974222.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Register-based research suggests a shared pathophysiology between inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] and spondyloarthritis [SpA], but the role of familial [genetic and environmental] factors in this shared susceptibility is largely unknown. We compared the risk of SpA in first-degree relatives [FDRs] and spouses of IBD patients with FDRs and spouses of matched population-based reference individuals. METHODS: We identified 147,080 FDRs and 25,945 spouses of patients with incident IBD [N=39,203] during 2006-2016 and 1,453,429 FDRs and 258,098 spouses of matched reference individuals [N=390,490], by linking nationwide Swedish registers and gastrointestinal biopsy data. Study participants were followed 1987-2017. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios [HRs] of SpA. RESULTS: During follow-up, 2,430 FDRs of IBD patients [6.5/10,000 person-years] and 17,761 FDRs of reference individuals [4.8/10,000 person-years] were diagnosed with SpA, corresponding to an HR of 1.35 [95%CI:1.29,1.41]. In subgroup analyses, the increased risk of SpA was most pronounced in FDRs of Crohn's disease patients [HR=1.44; 95%CI:1.34,1.56] and of IBD patients aged <18 years at diagnosis [HR=1.46; 95%CI: 1.27,1.68]. IBD patient's spouses also had a higher SpA rate than reference individuals' spouses, but the difference was less pronounced [4.3 vs. 3.5/10,000 person-years; HR=1.22; 95%CI:1.09,1.37]. No subgroup-specific risk pattern was identified among spouses. CONCLUSIONS: The observed shared familial risks between IBD and SpA support shared genetic factors in their pathogenesis. However, spouses of IBD patients were also at increased risk for SpA, reflecting the influence of environmental exposures or similarities in health-seeking patterns., Funding agency:Danish National Research Foundation DNRF148

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is linked to reduced female fertility, but it is unclear how fertility rates vary by histological disease activity. METHODS: Nationwide IBD cohort of Swedish women aged 15-44 years. We examined fertility rates during periods with vs. without histological inflammation (n=21,046; follow-up: 1990-2016) and during periods with vs. without clinical activity (IBD-related hospitalization, surgery, or treatment escalation) (n=24,995; follow-up: 2006-2020). Accounting for socio-demographics and comorbidities, we used Poisson regression to estimate adjusted fertility rate ratios (aFRRs) for live-births conceived during 12-month-periods of histological inflammation (vs. histological remission) and 3-month-periods of clinically active IBD (vs. quiescent IBD). RESULTS: During periods with vs. without histological inflammation, there were 6.35 (95%CI=5.98-6.73) and 7.09 (95%CI=6.48-7.70) live-births conceived per 100 person-years of follow-up, respectively, or one fewer child per fourteen women with 10 years of histological inflammation (aFRR=0.90; 95%CI=0.81-1.00). In women with histological inflammation fertility was similarly reduced in ulcerative colitis (UC, aFRR=0.89 [95%CI=0.78-1.02]) and Crohn's disease (CD, aFRR=0.86 [95%CI=0.72-1.04]). Clinical IBD activity was associated with an aFRR of 0.76 (95%CI=0.72-0.79) or one fewer child per six women with 10 years of clinical activity. Fertility was reduced in clinically active UC (aFRR=0.75 [95%CI=0.70-0.81]) and CD (aFRR=0.76 [95%CI=0.70-0.82]). Finally, also among women with clinically quiescent IBD, histological inflammation (vs. histological remission) was associated with reduced fertility (aFRR=0.85 [95%CI=0.73-0.98]). CONCLUSIONS: An association between histological and clinical activity and reduced female fertility in CD and UC was found. Notably, histological inflammation was linked to reduced fertility also in women with clinically quiescent IBD., Grant support: KM: ALF-funding from Region Västra Götaland, grants from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Birgitta och Göran Karlssons foundation, The Swedish Society for Medical Research (S20-0007), The Swedish Research Council (Dnr 2020-01980), The Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS-935346/935415/935418). JFL: Karolinska Institutet. OO: Swedish Research Council (Dnr: 2020-02002), The Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS-789611), ALF (20190638). JA: Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, the Judith Stewart Colton Center for Autoimmunity, and the NIH NIDDK Diseases K23DK124570. GB: Stockholm Region clinical postdoctoral appointment (Dnr: 20170670).

OBJECTIVES: Despite a suggested link between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and myocarditis, the association has not been well-established. This study aimed to investigate the long-term risk of myocarditis in patients with IBD. METHODS: This nationwide cohort involved all patients with biopsy-confirmed IBD in Sweden (1969-2017) (n=83,264, Crohn's disease [CD, n=24,738], ulcerative colitis [UC, n=46,409], and IBD-unclassified [IBD-U, n=12,117]), general population reference individuals (n=391,344), and IBD-free full siblings (n=96,149), and followed until 2019. Primary outcome was incident myocarditis and secondary outcome was severe myocarditis (complicated with heart failure, death, or readmission). Flexible parametric survival models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and cumulative incidence of outcomes, along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 12 years, there were 256 myocarditis cases in IBD patients (incidence rate [IR]=22.6/100,000 person-years) and 710 in reference individuals (IR=12.9), with an aHR of 1.55 (95%CI: 1.33 to 1.81). The increased risk persisted through 20 years after IBD diagnosis, corresponding to one extra myocarditis case in 735 IBD patients until then. This increased risk was observed in CD (aHR=1.48 [1.11 to 1.97]) and UC (aHR=1.58 [1.30 to 1.93]). IBD was also associated with severe myocarditis (IR: 10.1 vs. 3.5; aHR=2.44 [1.89 to 3.15]), irrespective of IBD subtypes (CD: aHR=2.39 [1.43 to 4.01], UC: aHR=2.82 [1.99 to 4.00], and IBD-U: aHR=3.14 [1.55 to 6.33]). Sibling comparison analyses yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with IBD had an increased risk of myocarditis, especially severe myocarditis, for ≥20 years after diagnosis, but absolute risks were low., This study was supported by the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization (to J. Sun), the Stiftelsen Professor Nanna Svartz fond (to J. Sun), FORTE (J.F.L.), and the Swedish Research Council (2019-00193, to A.R.).

This study was supported by the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization (to JS; grant number: not applicable) and FORTE (to JFL; grant number: 2016-00424).

BACKGROUND: Earlier studies on the possible association between eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been contradictory. METHODS: Patients with biopsy-verified EoE diagnosed between 1990 and 2017 in Sweden (n = 1587) were age- and sex-matched with up to five general population reference individuals (n = 7808). EoE was defined using pathology reports from all 28 pathology centers in Sweden (the ESPRESSO study). Multivariate Cox regression then estimated hazard ratios for future IBD. IBD was defined based on the international classification of disease codes and histopathology codes. In secondary analyses, sibling comparators were used to further reduce potential familial confounding. Additionally, we performed logistic regression examining earlier IBD in EoE. RESULTS: During follow-up until 2020, 16 (0.01%) EoE patients and 21 (0.003%) general population reference individuals diagnosed with IBD, corresponding to a 3.5-fold increased risk of future IBD (aHR = 3.56; 95% CI 1.79-7.11). EoE was linked to Crohn's disease (aHR = 3.39 [95% CI 1.02-9.60]) but not to ulcerative colitis (aHR = 1.37; 95% CI 0.38-4.86). Compared to their siblings, patients with EoE were at a 2.48-fold increased risk of IBD (aHR = 2.48; 95% CI 0.92-6.70). Earlier IBD was 15 times more likely in EoE patients than in matched reference individuals (odds ratio, 15.39; 95% CI 7.68-33.59). CONCLUSION: In this nationwide cohort study, EoE was associated with a 3.5-fold increased risk of later IBD diagnosis. This risk increase may be due to shared genetic or early environmental risk factors, but also surveillance bias could play a role., AMU was supported by the Consortium of Eosinophilic GI Disease Researcher (CEGIR) Training Program. JFL was supported by Karolinska Institutet.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at increased risk of serious infections, but whether this risk varies by histological disease activity is unclear. METHODS: A national population-based study of 55,626 individuals diagnosed with IBD in 1990-2016 with longitudinal data on ileo-colorectal biopsies followed through 2016. Serious infections were defined as having an inpatient infectious disease diagnosis in the Swedish National Patient Register. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for serious infections in the 12 months following documentation of histologic inflammation (vs. histological remission), adjusting for social and demographic factors, chronic comorbidities, prior IBD-related surgery and hospitalization. We also adjusted for IBD-related medications in sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: With histological inflammation vs. remission, there was 4.62 (95%CI=4.46-4.78) and 2.53 (95%CI=2.36-2.70) serious infections per 100 person-years of follow-up, respectively (adjusted [a]HR=1.59; 95%CI=1.48-1.72). Histological inflammation (vs. remission) were associated with an increased risk of serious infections in ulcerative colitis (UC, aHR=1.68; 95%CI=1.51-1.87) and Crohn's disease (CD, aHR=1.59; 95%CI=1.40-1.80). The aHRs of sepsis and opportunistic infections were 1.66 (95%CI=1.28-2.15) and 1.71 (95%CI=1.22-2.41), respectively. Overall, results were consistent across age groups, sex and education level and remained largely unchanged after adjustment for IBD-related medications (aHR=1.47; 95%CI=1.34-1.61). CONCLUSION: Histological inflammation of IBD was an independent risk factor of serious infections, including sepsis, suggesting that achieving histological remission may reduce infections in IBD., Funding Agencies:ALF-funding from Region Västra GötalandUniversity of Gothenburg, SwedenBirgitta och Göran Karlssons foundationThe Swedish Society for Medical ResearchThe Swedish Research CouncilThe Swedish Society of MedicineKarolinska InstitutetSwedish Research CouncilThe Swedish Society of MedicineRegion Stockholm (ALF project)Crohn’s and Colitis FoundationJudith Stewart Colton Center for AutoimmunityNIH NIDDK Diseases

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) requires a patient-centric, definition of comprehensive disease control that considers improvements in aspects not typically captured by classical landmark trial endpoints. In an international initiative we reviewed aspects of UC that affect patients and/or indicate mucosal inflammation, to achieve consensus on which aspects to combine in a definition of comprehensive disease control, using a modified Delphi process. METHODS: The Delphi panel comprised 12 gastroenterologists and one patient advocate. Two gastroenterologists were elected as chairs and did not vote. To inform statements, we asked 18 patients and the panel members about their experiences of remission and reviewed published literature. Panel members voted on statements anonymously in three rounds, with a live discussion before round 3. Consensus was met if ≥ 67% of the panel agreed. Statements without consensus in rounds 1 and 2 were revised or discarded after round 3. RESULTS: The panel agreed to measure individual patient benefit using a definition of comprehensive disease control that combines aspects currently measured in trials (rectal bleeding, stool frequency, disease-related quality of life, endoscopy, histological inflammatory activity, inflammatory biomarkers, and corticosteroid use), with additional patient-reported symptoms (bowel urgency, abdominal pain, extraintestinal manifestations, fatigue, and sleep disturbance). The panel agreed on scoring systems and thresholds for many aspects. CONCLUSIONS: Using a robust methodology, we defined comprehensive disease control in UC. Next, we will combine the measurement and scoring of these aspects into a multi-component tool and adopt comprehensive disease control as a treatment target in clinical practice and trials.

Introduction: Data suggest atherosclerotic-related inflammation may play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but large-scale studies are missing. Methods: In this nationwide case-control study, we used the Swedish Patient Register and the Epidemiology Strengthened by histoPathology Reports in Sweden cohort to identify adult cases of incident IBD between 2002 and 2021, with each case matched to up to 10 general population controls. We used conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (OR) for exposure to an atherosclerotic-related condition (myocardial infarction, thromboembolic stroke, or atherosclerosis itself) before being diagnosed with IBD. Results: There were a total of 56,212 individuals with IBD and 531,014 controls. Of them, 2,334 (4.2%) cases and 18,222 (3.4%) controls had a prior diagnosis of an atherosclerotic-related condition, corresponding to an OR of 1.30 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.24-1.37). Results were statistically significant for both Crohn's disease (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.26-1.48) and ulcerative colitis (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.20-1.35) and for individuals who developed IBD at 40-59 years of age and 60 years or older. In addition, associations persisted when adjusting for underlying comorbidities, including the presence of immune-mediated diseases and prior aspirin and/or statin use. The highest odds of an atherosclerotic-related condition were seen in the 6-12 months before IBD diagnosis, though odds were increased even >= 5 years before. A higher magnitude of odds was also observed when having 2 or more atherosclerotic-related conditions when compared with having only 1 condition. Discussion: A history of an atherosclerotic-related condition is associated with increased odds of developing IBD, particularly among older adults. Future studies should investigate whether drugs targeting atherosclerotic-related inflammation may prevent IBD in higher-risk individuals.

Improved biomarkers are needed for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. Here we identify a diagnostic lipidomic signature for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease by analyzing blood samples from a discovery cohort of incident treatment-naïve pediatric patients and validating findings in an independent inception cohort. The lipidomic signature comprising of only lactosyl ceramide (d18:1/16:0) and phosphatidylcholine (18:0p/22:6) improves the diagnostic prediction compared with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Adding high-sensitivity C-reactive protein to the signature does not improve its performance. In patients providing a stool sample, the diagnostic performance of the lipidomic signature and fecal calprotectin, a marker of gastrointestinal inflammation, does not substantially differ. Upon investigation in a third pediatric cohort, the findings of increased lactosyl ceramide (d18:1/16:0) and decreased phosphatidylcholine (18:0p/22:6) absolute concentrations are confirmed. Translation of the lipidomic signature into a scalable diagnostic blood test for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease has the potential to support clinical decision making., This work was supported by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [RB13-0160 to J.H.], the Swedish Research Council [2020-02021 to J.H.], the Örebro University Hospital research foundation [OLL-890291 to J.H.], NordForsk [90569 to J.H.].

INTRODUCTION: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, can be challenging to diagnose, and treatment outcomes are difficult to predict. In the NORDTREAT cohort study, a Nordic prospective multicentre study, we aim to identify novel molecular biomarkers of diagnostic value by assessing the diagnostic test accuracy (cross-sectionally), as well as the prognostic utility when used as prognostic markers in the long-term (cohort study). In the diagnostic test accuracy study, the primary outcome is a successful diagnosis using one or more novel index tests at baseline compared with the ECCO criteria as the reference standard. The composite outcome of the prognostic utility study is 'severe IBD' within 52 weeks from inclusion, defined as one or more of the following three events: IBD-related surgery, IBD-related hospitalisation or IBD-related death. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We aim to recruit 800 patients referred on suspicion of IBD to this longitudinal observational study, a collaboration between 11 inclusion sites in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Inclusion will occur from February 2022 until December 2023 with screening and baseline visits for all participants and three outcome visits at weeks 12, 26 and 52 after baseline for IBD-diagnosed patients. Biological material (blood, faeces, biopsies, urine and hair), clinical data and lifestyle information will be collected during these scheduled visits. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study will explore novel biomarkers to improve diagnostic accuracy and prediction of disease progression, thereby improving medical therapy and the quality of life for patients with IBD.The study is approved by the Ethics Committee (DK: S-20200051, v1.4, 16.10.2021; IS: VSNb2021070006/03.01, NO: 193064; SE: DNR 2021-05090) and the Danish Data Protecting Agency (20/54594). Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, patient associations and presentations at international conferences. C, The NORDTREAT project has received funding from NordForsk (30 000 000 SKR) via Vinnova (grant number 2019-01185 NORDTREAT), Rannis (NordForsk no. 90569-grant no. 199782-0611), The Research Council of Norway (grant no. 2988039) and Innovation Fund Denmark (90569 NORDTREAT: grant number 8114-00026B). The Danish partners have allocated the funding (4 800 000 DKR) for remuneration of project staff, biobanking and analyses of biological material. Furthermore, the University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Hospital Sønderjylland has funded 1 125 000 DKR for PhD salary (Fejrskov A (grant number not applicable)), The Region of Southern Denmark (Fri og Strategisk Forskning) has funded 1 137 000 DKR (Fejrskov A (J.no.: 21/17578 and Efond: 1084) and Füchtbauer JD (grant number A1381)) for biobanking and analyses of biological material. Knud and Edith Eriksen Memorial Fund has funded 75 000 DKR for PhD salary (Fejrskov A (case no. 62786-2022)). Odense University Hospital has funded 584 000 DKR for PhD salary (Füchtbauer JD (grant number A5031)). Section for Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Research, the Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital (Christensen R) is supported by a core grant from the Oak Foundation (OCAY-13-309).

Background: Better prognostic measures for ulcerative colitis (UC) could significantly advance patient care. While the prognostic capacity of circulating proteins in UC has been explored, the role of mucosal proteins remains largely unknown. We examined mucosal protein markers in patients with incident ulcerative colitis and evaluated their prognostic value. Methods: Biopsies from macroscopically inflamed colonic/rectal mucosa of adult patients in the Swedish inception cohort of IBD (SIC IBD) were obtained at diagnosis of UC. Patients were followed prospectively, and clinical data were recorded after 3 and 12 months. Disease course was categorised as indolent or aggressive at 12 months, based on a composite outcome of colectomy, hospital admission for active disease, treatment refractoriness towards ≥2 biological agents; the use of >2 courses of corticosteroids, or a cumulative dose of >2.5 g. Relative estimates of 162 protein markers were assessed in homogenised tissue supernatants, using proximity extension assay technology (Olink Proteomics, Uppsala, Inflammation and Oncology II panel). Mann-Whitney U test, with Benjamini-Hochberg correction was used to identify differentially regulated mucosal proteins in aggressive vs indolent disease course, with a 5% false discovery rate (FDR). Smoothly clipped absolute deviation regularised logistic regression models were used to identify prognostic signatures distinguishing aggressive from indolent disease course. Performance was estimated in a leave-one-out cross-validation and reported as the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Results: 117 patients provided a macroscopically inflamed colonic/rectal biopsy at diagnosis of UC. Basic demographics and clinical characteristics are presented in Table 1. Relative protein levels of WFdc2 and CCL20 were significantly lower in lysates from patients developing an aggressive course vs patients developing an indolent course, while estimates of MM

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a heterogeneous disorder. Both subtypes, i.e., Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), differ in disease behaviour and inflamed gastrointestinal segments. Despite this, randomized controlled trials stratify patients based on CD and UC. Molecular characterization could uncover subtype-specific differences that could guide treatment and thereby overcome current therapeutic limitations. Therefore, we aimed to examine differences in serum inflammatory protein profiles across the IBD spectrum. Methods: This was a cross-sectional multicentre study of adult patients (≥18 years) with IBD from one Belgian and eight Swedish hospitals in the COLLIBRI consortium. IBD diagnosis and classification was based on international criteria, according to the Montreal classification. Relative serum protein levels were assessed using proximity extension assay technology (Olink Proteomics, Uppsala, Sweden; inflammation panel). We adopted smoothly clipped absolute deviation penalized logistic regression models to discriminate CD and UC patients. Using fitted CD vs UC logistic models, we estimated probability scores of CD vs UC for each patient based on their serum protein profiles. Scores ranged from 0 to 1, where lower scores indicated a higher molecular resemblance to UC. We evaluated the performance using leave-one-out cross-validation and the area under the curve (AUC). Results: Relative levels of 86 serum inflammatory proteins were available from 1,551 patients with IBD (CD, N=883; UC, N=639 and IBD-U, N=29) (Table 1). CD vs UC probability scores based on protein estimates for patients with UC, IBDU and different CD phenotypes (ileal CD, L1; colonic CD, L2; ileocolonic CD L3) are shown in Figure 1A. We observed a spectrum of IBD patients based on their CD vs CD probability scores with most pronounced differences between ileal CD and UC. Probability scores also differed significantly between colonic CD and ileal CD, but not betwee

Background: Mental health (MH) has been reported to be poorer among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than general population. However, it is not known whether MH is more driven by inflammation itself or related to gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Also, the dynamics of MH following IBD diagnosis is not well understood. Methods: In the Swedish Inception Cohort of IBD (SIC-IBD), patients with Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and unclassified IBD (IBD-U) as well as symptomatic controls (SC) and healthy controls (HC) filled in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a validated screening tool for depression. Patients completed PHQ-9 at diagnosis and at one year follow-up while the controls completed it once. Disease outcome was defined at one year based on requirement of advanced treatments/ surgery. Results: In total, 286 individuals (16 HC, 89 SC, 62 CD, 104 UC, 15 IBD-U) completed the questionnaire at baseline. HC had significantly lower PHQ-9 score, (fewer depressive symptoms), at baseline compared to all the other groups (p<0.01). The baseline PHQ-9 score was not significantly different between SC and CD, UC and IBD-U patients (p=0.06). At one year follow-up, 38 CD and 53 UC patients completed the PHQ-9. Between baseline and follow-up, UC patients had a significant drop in their PHQ-9 score (p<0.0000001), whereas CD patients did not have any significant change in their PHQ-9 score (p=0.06). Furthermore, UC patients had significantly lower PHQ-9 score compared with CD patients at follow-up (p=0.04, Figure 1). Baseline PHQ-9 score was not correlated with calprotectin at baseline neither in UC nor CD patients (p=0.7 and 0.5 respectively). Also, there was no positive correlation between PHQ-9 score change and calprotectin change in either UC or CD patients, and neither baseline nor follow-up PHQ-9 scores were significantly different in patients with poor or good outcome (p>0.05). When analysed separately by sex, there was still no corr

Background: Tofacitinib is a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC). ODEN is an ongoing Swedish multicentre prospective observational study regarding effectiveness of tofacitinib in UC. In this interim analysis, we aimed to assess the clinical outcomes during the first 16 weeks. Methods: Patients with active UC were enrolled 2020-2023 when starting tofacitinib as per clinical indication. Inclusion criteria were fecal (F) calprotectin >250 mg/kg or Mayo endoscopic score ≥2. Data were collected using an electronic case report form linked to the Swedish National Quality Registry for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SWIBREG). Data concerning inflammatory markers, endoscopic activity, partial (p) Mayo, extra intestinal manifestations, health-related quality of life measures, corticosteroid use, and colectomy rates were collected regardless of tofacitinib discontinuation. Information collected at week 8 and 16 is presented here. Intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis was applied and tofacitinib discontinuation was considered as treatment failure (i.e., no tofacitinib-induced clinical or laboratory response or remission). McNemar’s test was used for proportion differences. Results: The proportion of patients who previously had failed at least one biologic was 95% and at least two biologics, 62%. At inclusion, median p-Mayo was 5 and 39% of patients were on corticosteroids (Table 1a). Patients’ survival on drug is shown in Figure 1a. At week 8 and 16, 42% and 43%, respectively, achieved corticosteroid free clinical remission, Figure 1b. A 50% reduction in F-calprotectin was seen in 54% and 49% at week 8 and 16, respectively. The endpoint of Mayo endoscopic score 0 and/or F-calprotectin <100 mg/kg was achieved by 30% and 38% at week 8 and 16, respectively. Arthralgia frequency decreased significantly from baseline from 29% at inclusion to 13% and 11% at week 8 and 16 respectively. Three patients underwent colectomy the first

Background: Studies from mainly before the wide use of targeted therapies and guidelines for thromboprophylaxis indicate that patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at a doubled risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). We studied the risk of VTE in a modern-day cohort of patients with IBD, overall and in subgroups of disease characteristics. Methods: Using Swedish healthcare registers, we identified a nationwide population-based cohort of 55,252 patients with incident IBD between 2007 and 2021 with a median follow-up time of 6.5 years. Patients were matched by age, sex, calendar year and county of residence with up to ten reference individuals from the general population (N=536,067). The primary outcome was VTE, including pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis. Incidence rates per 1,000 person-years and hazard ratios (HR) were calculated for IBD in general and according to disease subtype, sex, age and disease characteristics at diagnosis. HRs stratified by matching variables (model 1) and additionally adjusted for comorbidities and socioeconomic factors (model 2) were estimated by using Cox regression. Results: The incidence rate of VTE among patients with IBD was 5.03 per 1,000 person-years compared with 2.34 per 1,000 person-years among reference individuals (Table 1). This corresponded to a doubled incidence of VTE (HR=2.18, 95% confidence interval (CI)=2.07-2.29, model 1). Adjusting further for covariates in model 2 had only minor effects on the HR. The HR was consistent across IBD subtypes and sex. The relative risk was higher for those with younger age (18-39 years) at IBD diagnosis (HR 2.52, 95% CI: 2.22-2.83) with a risk difference of 1.25 per 1,000 person-years. The IR, 10.64 per 1,000 person-years, and risk difference, 5.42 per 1,000 person-years, was the highest for those with elderly onset (≥60 years) IBD. There was a stronger association for those with extensive ulcerative colitis (E3), primary sclerosing cholangitis, extraintestinal mani

Background: We aimed to identify protein signatures predictive of a future diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: We conducted a case-control study, nested within large population-based cohorts with biorepositories. Samples were obtained from individuals who later in life were diagnosed with IBD (preclinical cases) and compared with age and sex-matched individuals who remained free from IBD during follow-up (controls). Using proximity extension assays (Olink, Uppsala), we measured 176 proteins. We applied regularized logistic regression to identify protein signatures of preclinical disease in serum from the discovery cohort (n=312). Their performance was validated in an external preclinical cohort (n=222). The biological relevance of identified proteins was further assessed in an inception cohort (n=144). Finally, we used an IBD twin cohort (n=327) to examine the impact of genetic and shared environmental factors on identified proteins. Results: We identified 34 proteins associated with preclinical Crohn’s disease (CD) in the discovery cohort (Pfalse discovery rate <0.10), with 9 confirmed in the validation cohort (Pfalse discovery rate <0.05). For preclinical ulcerative colitis (UC), 45 proteins were identified and 12 validated (Fig. 1A-B). In the discovery cohort, a signature of 29 proteins differentiated preclinical CD cases from controls with an AUC of 0.85 (Fig. 1G). Its performance was confirmed when applied to the preclinical validation cohort (AUC=0.84, Fig. 1H). Moreover, the signature had excellent capacity to differentiate newly diagnosed CD from healthy controls in the inception cohort (AUC = 0.99, Fig. 1I). The preclinical UC signature had a significant, but albeit lower, predictive capacity in the discovery (AUC=0.77), validation (AUC=0.67) and inception cohort (AUC=0.90, Fig. 1G-I).15 of 17 proteins associated with preclinical IBD demonstrated significantly higher intra-pair correlation coefficients in healthy monozygotic- compa

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) has a major impact on daily life. The Janus Kinas (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib is effective in achieving remission in UC, but prospective real-world evidence concerning the effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and fatigue are still scarce. Fatigue is a component of UC that is notoriously difficult to treat and not unambiguously related to inflammatory activity. ODEN is an ongoing Swedish multicentre prospective observational study of tofacitinib in UC. In this interim analysis, we assessed the effectiveness on HRQoL and fatigue during the first 16 weeks. Methods: Patients with UC and active inflammation were enrolled 2020-2023 when starting tofacitinib as per clinical indication. To measure various aspects of impairment of daily life, the validated questionnaires Short Health Scale (SHS), EQ-5D-5L [Swedish value set], and IBD-fatigue scale (IBD-F) were used. These data and information concerning clinical, biochemical, and endoscopic outcomes were collected in an e-CRF linked to the Swedish National Quality Registry for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SWIBREG). For HRQoL outcomes, per protocol analysis was applied. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test were used for mean and median differences, respectively. Results: In total, 103 patients were included. Baseline data are shown in Table 1a. For patients still on tofacitinib treatment, all four dimensions of the SHS (symptoms, social function, disease related worry, and general well-being) improved significantly, Table 1b. A median decrease of one point from baseline was seen at week 8 in each of the parameters, which was maintained through week 16 with a tendency towards further improvement. EQ-5D-5L showed an impairment mainly in the aspects of pain/discomfort and ability to participate in common daily activities. Improvement in these dimensions was seen from baseline to week 16. The overall EQ-5D-5L index improved significantly from baseline (0.80) to week 8 (0.86)

Background: The real-world comparative safety of vedolizumab in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains uncertain. We aimed to assess the risk of serious infection in IBD patients treated with vedolizumab, compared to (i) those treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) treatment and (ii) the general population. Methods: In this nationwide cohort study, treatment episodes were identified from Swedish health registers (from 1 May 2014 – 31 December 2020). Patients were considered exposed from initiation of treatment until 90 days after discontinuation of treatment. We used Cox regression with propensity score-matched cohorts to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for incident serious infection, defined as infection requiring hospital admission. Results: After propensity score matching, the cohorts were not materially different at baseline with regard to demographic, disease and treatment characteristics (Table 1). During 1376 treatment-episodes in patients with Crohn’s disease, there were 5.18 (95%CI: 3.98-6.63) serious infections per 100 person-years (PY) with vedolizumab vs 3.54 (95%CI: 2.50-4.85) per 100 PY with anti-TNF; HR 1.72 (95%CI: 1.12-2.65; Figure 1A). When examining site-specific infections in Crohn’s disease, vedolizumab was associated with an HR of 2.47 (95% CI: 0.96-6.39) for serious gastrointestinal infections. Compared to the rate of 0.75 (95%CI: 0.59-0.92) serious infections per 100 PY in the general population, vedolizumab demonstrated an increased HR of 7.00 (95%CI: 5.04-9.72). Across 1294 episodes among patients with ulcerative colitis there were 3.74 (95%CI: 2.66-5.11) serious infections per 100 PY with vedolizumab vs 3.42 (95%CI: 2.31-4.89) per 100 PY with anti-TNF, corresponding to HRs of 0.80 (95%CI: 0.47-1.36, Figure 1B) within the initial 1.1 years of treatment and 2.03 (95%CI: 0.65-6.32) after 1.1 years (follow-up truncated due to non-proportional hazards). In ulcerative colitis, there was no statistically significant association between ved

BACKGROUND: Although previous evidence has suggested an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), its association with arrhythmias is inconclusive. In this study, we aimed to explore the long-term risk of arrhythmias in patients with IBD. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Through a nationwide histopathology cohort, we identified patients with biopsy-confirmed IBD in Sweden during 1969 to 2017, including Crohn's disease (CD: n = 24,954; median age at diagnosis: 38.4 years; female: 52.2%), ulcerative colitis (UC: n = 46,856; 42.1 years; 46.3%), and IBD-unclassified (IBD-U: n = 12,067; 43.8 years; 49.6%), as well as their matched reference individuals and IBD-free full siblings. Outcomes included overall and specific arrhythmias (e.g., atrial fibrillation/flutter, bradyarrhythmias, other supraventricular arrhythmias, and ventricular arrhythmias/cardiac arrest). Flexible parametric survival models estimated hazard ratios (aHR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs), after adjustment for birth year, sex, county of residence, calendar year, country of birth, educational attainment, number of healthcare visits, and cardiovascular-related comorbidities. Over a median of approximately 10 years of follow-up, 1,904 (7.6%) patients with CD, 4,154 (8.9%) patients with UC, and 990 (8.2%) patients with IBD-U developed arrhythmias, compared with 6.7%, 7.5%, and 6.0% in reference individuals, respectively. Compared with reference individuals, overall arrhythmias were increased in patients with CD [54.6 versus 46.1 per 10,000 person-years; aHR = 1.15 (95% CI [1.09, 1.21], P < 0.001)], patients with UC [64.7 versus 53.3 per 10,000 person-years; aHR = 1.14 (95% CI [1.10, 1.18], P < 0.001)], and patients with IBD-U [78.1 versus 53.5 per 10,000 person-years; aHR = 1.30 (95% CI [1.20, 1.41], P < 0.001)]. The increased risk persisted 25 years after diagnosis, corresponding to 1 extra arrhythmia case per 80 CD, 58 UC, and 29 IBD-U cases

As the patents for biologic originator drugs expire, biosimilars are emerging as cost-effective alternatives within healthcare systems. Addressing various challenges in the clinical management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains crucial. To shed light on physicians' current knowledge, beliefs, practical approaches, and concerns related to biosimilar adoption-whether initiating a biosimilar, transitioning from an originator to a biosimilar, or switching between biosimilars (including multiple switches and reverse switching)-a global survey was conducted. Fifteen physicians with expertise in the field of IBD from 13 countries attended a virtual international consensus meeting to develop practical guidance regarding biosimilar adoption worldwide, considering the survey results. This consensus centered on 10 key statements covering biosimilar effectiveness, safety, indications, rationale, multiple switches, therapeutic drug monitoring of biosimilars, non-medical switching, and future perspectives. Ultimately, the consensus affirmed that biosimilars are equally effective and safe when compared to originator drugs. They are considered suitable for both biologic-naïve patients and those who have previously been treated with originator drugs, with cost reduction being the primary motivation for transitioning from an originator drug to a biosimilar., The consensus was supported by Sandoz.

Introduction: Fecal calprotectin (FC) is anoninvasive tool for examining response to biologics in inflammatory boweldisease (IBD), but its performance in relation to other novel fecal markers of various cellular origins is unknown. Methods: We performed a prospective multicenter cohort study and included patients with active IBD who provided a fecal sample at initiation of biological therapy. Levels of FC, myeloperoxidase (MPO), human neutrophil lipocalin (HNL), and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) were analyzed and related to clinical remission status at 3 months. Changes in levels of markers at 3 months were calculated, and the impact of concomitant use of corticosteroids at baseline was estimated. Results: In patients achieving clinical remission (n = 27), a decrease in levels of FC (P = 0.005), MPO (P < 0.001), HNL (P < 0.001), and EDN (P < 0.001) was observed, whereas no significant decrease was seen in patients not achieving remission (n = 39). There was a significant difference in the change in the level of MPO (P = 0.01) and HNL (P = 0.02) between patients achieving clinical remission and those who did not, but changes in FC and EDN could not differentiate between these groups. Patients with concomitant systemic corticosteroids at inclusion had lower levels of HNL (P = 0.01) and EDN (P < 0.001) at baseline, compared with patients without corticosteroids. Discussion: Fecal MPO, HNL, and EDN are all promising biomarkers for assessing the treatment outcome of biologics in patients with IBD. Fecal levels of EDN and HNL are significantly affected by corticosteroids indicating a greater sensitivity to the effects of corticosteroids compared with levels of FC and MPO., This work was supported by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (grant number RB13-016), Medical Faculty, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (M.C.) and the Orebro University Hospital Research Foundation (grant numbers OLL-936004, OLL-890291, OLL-790011, OLL-723021, and OLL-333321 to J.H.).

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been linked to an increased risk of colorectal neoplasia. However, the types and risks of specific polyp types in IBD are less clear. METHODS: We identified 41,880 individuals with IBD [Crohn's disease (CD: n=12,850); Ulcerative colitis (UC): n=29,030)] from Sweden matched with 41,880 reference individuals. Using Cox regression, we calculated adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for neoplastic colorectal polyps (Tubular, Serrated/Sessile, Advanced and Villous) defined by histopathology codes. RESULTS: During follow-up, 1648 (3.9%) IBD patients and 1143 (2.7%) reference individuals had an incident neoplastic colorectal polyp, corresponding to an incidence rate of 46.1 and 34.2 per 10,000 person-years, respectively. This correlated to an aHR of 1.23 (95% CI 1.12-1.35) with the highest HRs seen for sessile serrated polyps (8.50, 95% CI 1.10-65.90) and traditional serrated adenomas (1.72, 95% CI 1.02-2.91). aHRs for colorectal polyps were particularly elevated in those diagnosed with IBD at a young age and after 10 years after diagnosis. Both absolute and relative risks of colorectal polyps were higher in UC than in CD (aHRs 1.31 vs. 1.06, respectively), with a 20-year cumulative risk differences of 4.4% in UC and 1.5% in CD, corresponding to one extra polyp in 23 patients with UC and one in 67 CD patients during the first 20 years after IBD diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: In this nationwide population-based study, there was an increased risk of neoplastic colorectal polyps in IBD patients. Colonoscopic surveillance in IBD appears important, especially in UC and after 10 years of disease., Funding agencies:Crohn's and Colitis FoundationJudith & Stewart Colton Center for AutoimmunityNIH NIDDK Diseases K23DK124570Young Scholar Award from the Strategic Research Area Epidemiology Program at Karolinska InstitutetAmerican College of Gastroenterology Senior Research AwardBeker FoundationAmerican Cancer SocietyUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA R00CA215314 U01CA261961

BACKGROUND: Birth cohort studies with linked register-based data on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) provide opportunities to prospectively study early-life determinants of the disease. However, register-based data often lack information on clinical characteristics and rely on diagnostic algorithms. Within the All Babies in Southeast Sweden (ABIS) cohort, we examined the validity of a register-based definition of IBD, its incidence, and clinical and therapeutic characteristics at diagnosis. METHODS: We followed 16,223 children from birth (1997-1999) until the end of 2020 for the diagnosis of IBD as defined by a minimum of two diagnostic codes for IBD in the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR). We described the incidence and cumulative incidence of IBD. Through a medical record review of cases diagnosed by the end of 2017, we examined the positive predictive value (PPV) for IBD and described its clinical characteristics and treatment. RESULTS: By 2020, at an average age of 22.2 years, 113 participants (0.74%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.61-0.89) had a register-based diagnosis of IBD, corresponding to an incidence of 31.3 per 100,000 person-years of follow-up; the incidence for Crohn's disease (CD) was 11.1 per 100,000 person-years and 15.8 for ulcerative colitis (UC). Of 77 participants with a register-based definition of IBD by the end of 2017, medical records were identified for 61 participants, of whom 57 had true IBD (PPV = 93%; 95%CI = 0.87-1.00). While oral 5-aminosalicylic acid treatment was equally common in newly diagnosed CD and UC patients, biologics were more often used for newly diagnosed CD. The median faecal calprotectin levels were 1206 mg/kg at diagnosis and 93 mg/kg at the last follow-up (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this population-based sample of Swedish children and young adults the cumulative IBD incidence was 0.74. The validity of register-based definition of IBD was high and supports using such data to identify IBD patients in cohor

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Earlier studies have provided varying risk estimates for lymphoma in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but have often been limited by detection biases, (especially during the first year of follow-up), misclassification, and small sample size; and rarely reflect modern-day management of IBD. METHODS: Binational register-based cohort study (Sweden and Denmark) during 1969-2019. We compared 164,716 patients with IBD to 1,639,027 matched general population reference individuals. Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for incident lymphoma by lymphoma subtype, excluding the first year of follow-up. RESULTS: During 1969-2019, 258 patients with Crohn's Disease (CD), 479 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 6675 matched reference individuals developed lymphoma. This corresponded to incidence rates of 35(CD) and 34(UC)/100,000 person-years [PY] in IBD patients, compared to 28 and 33/100,000 PY in their matched reference individuals. While both CD (HR=1.32; 95%CI=1.16-1.50) and UC (HR=1.09; 95%CI=1.00-1.20) were associated with an increase in lymphoma, the 10-year cumulative incidence difference was low even in CD patients (0.08%; 95%CI=0.02 to 0.13])). HRs increased the past two decades, corresponding to increasing use of immunomodulators and biologics during the same time-period. HRs were increased for aggressive B-cell NHL in CD and UC patients, and for T-cell NHL in CD patients. Although the highest HRs were observed in patients exposed to combination therapy (immunomodulators and biologics) or second line biologics, we also found increased HRs in patients naïve to such drugs. CONCLUSIONS: During the past 20 years, HRs for lymphomas have increased in CD, but not in UC, and were driven mainly by T-cell lymphomas and aggressive B-cell lymphomas., Supported by Swedish Medical Society grant Dnr SLS-789611, the Strategiskt Forskningsomrade Young Scholar Award at Karolinska Institutet, Avtal om Läkarutbildning och Forskning (ALF) grants Dnr 20170720 and 20190638, and the Swedish Research Council grant Dnr 2020-02002 (O.O.) ; by the Swedish Cancer Society, the Stockholm County Council (ALF) , the Swedish Research Council, and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research during the conduct of the study (J.A.) ; by a grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (H.T.S.) ; and by the Forskningsrådet for hälsa, arbetsliv och välfärd Foundation and the Swedish Cancer Foundation (J.F.L.) .

BACKGROUND: There are little data on positioning biologics in Crohn's disease (CD). AIMS: We aimed to assess the comparative effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab vs tumour necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF) agents after first-line treatment with anti-TNF in CD. METHODS: We used Swedish nationwide registers to identify patients with CD, exposed to anti-TNF who initiated second-line biologic treatment with ustekinumab or second-line anti-TNF therapy. Nearest neighbour 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the groups. The primary outcome was 3-year drug survival used as a proxy for effectiveness. Secondary outcomes included drug survival without hospital admission, CD-related surgery, antibiotics, hospitalization due to infection and exposure to corticosteroids. RESULTS: Some 312 patients remained after PSM. Drug survival at 3 years was 35% (95% CI 26-44%) in ustekinumab compared to 36% (95% CI 28-44%) in anti-TNF-treated patients (p = 0.72). No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups in 3-year survival without hospital admission (72% vs 70%, p = 0.99), surgery (87% vs 92%, p = 0.17), hospital admission due to infection (92% vs 92%, p = 0.31) or prescription of antibiotics (49% vs 50%, p = 0.56). The proportion of patients continuing second-line biologic therapy did not differ by reason for ending first-line anti-TNF (lack of response vs intolerance) or by type of first-line anti-TNF (adalimumab vs infliximab). CONCLUSION: Based on data from Swedish routine care, no clinically relevant differences in effectiveness or safety of second-line ustekinumab vs anti-TNF treatment were observed in patients with CD with prior exposure to anti-TNF., Funding agencies:Johnson & Johnson USA Janssen Biotech Inc CNTO1275CRD0005Stockholm Region Clinical Postdoctoral Researcher GrantStrategic Research Area Epidemiology program at Karolinska Institutet

Background and Objectives: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at an increased risk of thromboembolic events, but evidence on the long-term risk of stroke remains scarce. We aimed to explore whether patients with a biopsy-confirmed IBD had an increased long-term risk of stroke. Methods: This cohort included all patients with biopsy-confirmed IBD in Sweden between 1969 and 2019 and up to 5 matched reference individuals per patient who were randomly selected from the general population and IBD-free full siblings. The primary outcome was incident overall stroke; secondary outcomes were ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Stroke was identified from the Swedish National Patient Register by using both primary and secondary diagnoses. Adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for stroke were estimated by flexible parametric survival models. Results: A total of 85,006 patients with IBD (including Crohn disease [CD, n = 25,257], ulcerative colitis [UC, n = 47,354], and IBD-unclassified [IBD-U, n = 12,395]), 406,987 matched reference individuals, and 101,082 IBD-free full siblings were included in the analysis. We observed 3,720 incident strokes in patients with IBD (incidence rate [IR] 32.6 per 10,000 person-years) and 15,599 in reference individuals (IR 27.7; aHR 1.13, 95% CI 1.08-1.17). The elevated aHR remained increased even 25 years after diagnosis, corresponding to 1 additional stroke case per 93 patients with IBD until then. The excess aHR was mainly driven by ischemic stroke (aHR 1.14; 1.09-1.18) rather than hemorrhagic stroke (aHR 1.06; 0.97-1.15). The risk of ischemic stroke was significantly increased across IBD subtypes (CD [IR 23.3 vs 19.2; aHR 1.19; 1.10-1.29], UC [IR 25.7 vs 22.6; aHR 1.09; 1.04-1.16], and IBD-U [IR 30.5 vs 22.8; aHR 1.22; 1.08-1.37]). Similar results were found when patients with IBD were compared with their siblings. Discussion: Patients with IBD were at an increased risk of stroke, especially of ischemic events, irrespective of the IBD sub

BACKGROUND: Many patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have been developed for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) without recommendations for clinical use. PROs differ from physician-reported disease activity indices; they assess patients' perceptions of their symptoms, functional status, mental health, and quality of life, among other areas. We sought to investigate the current global use and barriers to using PROs in clinical practice for IBD. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was performed. An electronic questionnaire was sent to an international group of providers who care for patients with IBD. RESULTS: There were 194 respondents, including adult/pediatric gastroenterologists, advanced practice providers, and colorectal surgeons from 5 continents. The majority (80%) use PROs in clinical practice, 65% frequently found value in routine use, and 50% frequently found PROs influenced management. Thirty-one different PROs for IBD were reportedly used. Barriers included not being familiar with PROs, not knowing how to incorporate PRO results into clinical practice, lack of electronic medical record integration, and time constraints. Most (91%) agreed it would be beneficial to have an accepted set of consistently used PROs. The majority (60%) thought that there should be some cultural differences in PROs used globally but that PROs for IBD should be consistent around the world. CONCLUSIONS: PROs are used frequently in clinical practice with wide variation in which are used and how they influence management. Education about PROs and how to use and interpret an accepted set of PROs would decrease barriers for use and allow for global harmonization.

BACKGROUND: Statin use has been linked to a reduced risk of advanced colorectal adenomas, but its association with colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - a high risk population for CRC - remains inconclusive. METHODS: From a nationwide IBD cohort in Sweden, we identified 5273 statin users and 5273 non-statin users (1:1 propensity score matching) from July 2006 to December 2018. Statin use was defined as the first filled prescription for ≥30 cumulative defined daily doses and followed until December 2019. Primary outcome was incident CRC. Secondary outcomes were CRC-related mortality and all-cause mortality. Cox regression estimated adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). FINDINGS: During a median follow-up of 5.6 years, 70 statin users (incidence rate (IR): 21.2 per 10,000 person-years) versus 90 non-statin users (IR: 29.2) were diagnosed with incident CRC (rate difference (RD), -8.0 (95% CIs: -15.8 to -0.2 per 10,000 person-years); aHR = 0.76 (95% CIs: 0.61 to 0.96)). The benefit for incident CRC was duration-dependent in a nested case-control design: as compared to short-term use (30 days to <1 year), the adjusted odd ratios were 0.59 (0.25 to 1.43) for 1 to <2 years of use, 0.46 (0.21 to 0.98) for 2 to <5 years of use, and 0.38 (0.16 to 0.86) for ≥5 years of use (Pfor tread = 0.016). Compared with non-statin users, statin users also had a decreased risk for CRC-related mortality (IR: 6.0 vs. 11.9; RD, -5.9 (-10.5 to -1.2); aHR, 0.56 (0.37 to 0.83)) and all-cause mortality (IR: 156.4 vs. 231.4; RD, -75.0 (-96.6 to -53.4); aHR, 0.63 (0.57 to 0.69)). INTERPRETATION: Statin use was associated with a lower risk of incident CRC, CRC-related mortality, and all-cause mortality. The benefit for incident CRC was duration-dependent, with a significantly lower risk after ≥2 years of statin use.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease has been linked to increasing healthcare costs, but longitudinal data on other societal costs are scarce. AIM: To assess costs, including productivity losses, in patients with prevalent Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) in Sweden between 2007 and 2020. METHODS: We linked data from national registers on all patients with CD or UC and a matched (sex, birthyear, healthcare region and education) reference population. We assessed mean costs/year in Euros, inflation-adjusted to 2020, for hospitalisations, out-patient visits, medications, sick leave and disability pension. We defined excess costs as the mean difference between patients and matched comparators. RESULTS: Between 2007 and 2020, absolute mean annual societal costs in working-age (18-64 years) individuals decreased by 17% in CD (-24% in the comparators) and by 20% in UC (-27% in comparators), due to decreasing costs from sick leave and disability, a consequence of stricter sick leave regulations. Excess costs in 2007 were dominated by productivity losses. In 2020, excess costs were mostly healthcare costs. Absolute and excess costs increased in paediatric and elderly patients. Overall, costs for TNF inhibitors/targeted therapies increased by 274% in CD and 638% in UC, and the proportion treated increased from 5% to 26% in CD, and from 1% to 10% in UC. CONCLUSION: Between 2007 and 2020, excess costs shifted from productivity losses to direct healthcare costs; that is, the patients' compensation for sickness absence decreased, while society increased its spending on medications. Medication costs were driven both by expanding use of TNF inhibitors and by high costs for newer targeted therapies., Funding agency:Kommunfullmäktige, Stockholms stad Dnr 20190638

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract with the following two subtypes: Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). To date, most IBD genetic associations were derived from individuals of European (EUR) ancestries. Here we report the largest IBD study of individuals of East Asian (EAS) ancestries, including 14,393 cases and 15,456 controls. We found 80 IBD loci in EAS alone and 320 when meta-analyzed with similar to 370,000 EUR individuals (similar to 30,000 cases), among which 81 are new. EAS-enriched coding variants implicate many new IBD genes, including ADAP1 and GIT2. Although IBD genetic effects are generally consistent across ancestries, genetics underlying CD appears more ancestry dependent than UC, driven by allele frequency (NOD2) and effect (TNFSF15). We extended the IBD polygenic risk score (PRS) by incorporating both ancestries, greatly improving its accuracy and highlighting the importance of diversity for the equitable deployment of PRS. Genome-wide association analyses across individuals of East Asian and European ancestries identify new risk loci for inflammatory bowel diseases. A polygenic risk score derived from the combined datasets shows improved prediction accuracy.

BACKGROUND: Although evidence suggests a persistently decreased risk of colorectal cancer for up to 10 years among individuals with a negative endoscopic biopsy result (i.e., normal mucosa), concerns have been raised about other long-term health outcomes among these individuals. In this study, we aimed to explore the long-term risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) after an endoscopic biopsy with normal mucosa. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In the present nationwide cohort study, we identified all individuals in Sweden with a lower or upper gastrointestinal (GI) biopsy of normal mucosa during 1965 to 2016 (exposed, n = 200,495 and 257,192 for lower and upper GI biopsy, respectively), their individually matched population references (n = 989,484 and 1,268,897), and unexposed full siblings (n = 221,179 and 274,529). Flexible parametric model estimated hazard ratio (HR) as an estimate of the association between a GI biopsy of normal mucosa and IBD as well as cumulative incidence of IBD, with 95% confidence interval (CI). The first 6 months after GI biopsy were excluded to avoid detection bias, surveillance bias, or reverse causation. During a median follow-up time of approximately 10 years, 4,853 individuals with a lower GI biopsy of normal mucosa developed IBD (2.4%) compared to 0.4% of the population references. This corresponded to an incidence rate (IR) of 20.39 and 3.39 per 10,000 person-years in the respective groups or 1 extra estimated IBD case among 37 exposed individuals during the 30 years after normal GI biopsy. The exposed individuals had a persistently higher risk of overall IBD (average HR = 5.56; 95% CI: 5.28 to 5.85), ulcerative colitis (UC, average HR = 5.20; 95% CI: 4.85 to 5.59) and Crohn's disease (CD, average HR = 6.99; 95% CI: 6.38 to 7.66) than their matched population references. In the sibling comparison, average HRs were 3.27 (3.05 to 3.51) for overall IBD, 3.27 (2.96 to 3.61) for UC, and 3.77 (3.34 to 4.26) for CD. For individuals with an upper GI, Funding agency:China Scholarship Council

OBJECTIVE: The measure of serum proteome in the preclinical state of Crohn's disease (CD) may provide insight into biological pathways involved in CD pathogenesis. We aimed to assess associations of serum proteins with future CD onset and with other biomarkers predicting CD risk in a healthy at-risk cohort. DESIGN: In a nested case-control study within the Crohn's and Colitis Canada Genetics Environment Microbial Project (CCC-GEM) cohort, which prospectively follows healthy first-degree relatives (FDRs), subjects who developed CD (n=71) were matched with four FDRs remaining healthy (n=284). Using samples at recruitment, serum protein profiles using the Olink Proximity Extension Assay platform was assessed for association with future development of CD and with other baseline biomarkers as follows: serum antimicrobial antibodies (AS: positive antibody sum) (Prometheus); faecal calprotectin (FCP); gut barrier function using the fractional excretion of lactulose-to-mannitol ratio (LMR) assay. RESULTS: We identified 25 of 446 serum proteins significantly associated with future development of CD. C-X-C motif chemokine 9 (CXCL9) had the highest OR with future risk of CD (OR=2.07 per SD, 95% CI 1.58 to 2.73, q=7.9e-5), whereas matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein had the lowest OR (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.66, q=0.02). Notably, CXCL9 was the only analyte significantly associated with all other CD-risk biomarkers with consistent direction of effect (FCP: OR=2.21; LMR: OR=1.67; AS: OR=1.59) (q<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: We identified serum proteomic signatures associated with future CD development, reflecting potential early biological processes of immune and barrier dysfunction.

This study aims to assess the association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) history in first-degree relatives (FDRs) and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. We conducted a nationwide case-control study in Sweden among 69,659 CRC cases and 343,032 non-CRC controls matched on age, sex, birth year, and residence county. Through linkage of multi-generation register and the nationwide ESPRESSO (Epidemiology Strengthened by histoPathology Reports in Sweden) cohort, we ascertained IBD diagnoses among parents, full siblings, and offspring of the index individuals. Odds ratios (ORs) of CRC associated with IBD family history were calculated using conditional logistic regression. 2.2% of both CRC cases (1,566/69,659) and controls (7,676/343,027) had ≥1 FDR with IBD history. After adjusting for family history of CRC, we observed no increased risk of CRC in FDRs of IBD patients (OR, 0.96; 95%CI, 0.91-1.02). The null association was consistent according to IBD subtype (Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis), number of FDRs with IBD (1 or ≥2), age at first IBD diagnosis in FDRs (<18, 18-39, 40-59, or ≥60 years), maximum location/extent of IBD, or FDR relation (parent, sibling, or offspring). The null association remained for early-onset CRC (diagnosed at age <50 years). In conclusion, IBD history in FDRs was not associated with an increased risk of CRC. Our findings suggest that extra screening for CRC may not be needed in the offspring, siblings, or parents of IBD patients, and strengthen the theory that it is the actual inflammation or atypia of the colon in IBD patients that confers the increased CRC risk., Funding agencies:United States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA R00 CA215314 U01 CA261961 R01 CA263776American Cancer Society MRSG-17-220-01-NECALF 20190638

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Systemic inflammation is well-recognized to be associated with ulcerative colitis (UC), but whether these effects are causal or consequential remains unclear. We aimed to define potential causal relationship of cytokine dysregulation with different tiers of evidence. METHODS: We firstly synthesized serum proteomic profiling data from two multi-centered observational studies, in which a panel of systemic inflammatory proteins was analyzed to examine their associations with UC risk. To further dissect observed associations, we then performed a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) analysis from both forward and reverse directions using five genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary level data for serum proteomic profiles and the largest GWAS of 28,738 European-ancestry individuals for UC risk. RESULTS: Pooled analysis of serum proteomic data identified 14 proteins to be associated with the risk of UC. Forward MR analysis using only cis-acting protein quantitative trait loci (cis-pQTLs) or trans-pQTLs further validated causal associations of two chemokines and the increased risk of UC: C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9) (OR, 1.45, 95% CI, 1.08-1.95, P=.012) and C-C motif chemokine ligand 11 (CCL11) (OR, 1.14, 95%CI: 1.09-1.18, P=3.89×10 -10). Using both cis- and trans-acting pQTLs, an association of caspase-8 (CASP8) (OR, 1.04, 95% CI, 1.03-1.05, P= 7.63×10 -19) was additionally identified. Reverse MR did not find any influence of genetic predisposition to UC on any of these three inflammation proteins. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-existing elevated levels of CXCL9, CCL11 and CASP8 may play a role in the pathogenesis of UC., Funding agencies:Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Zhejiang Province LR22H260001National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 82204019CRUK Career Development Fellowship C31250/A22804Project of the regional diagnosis and treatment centre of the Health Planning Committee JBZX-201903

Biomarkers to guide clinical decision-making at diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are urgently needed. We investigated a composite serum N-glycomic biomarker to predict future disease course in a discovery cohort of 244 newly diagnosed IBD patients. Forty-seven individual glycan peaks were analysed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography identifying 105 glycoforms from which 24 derived glycan traits were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine associations of derived glycan traits with disease. Cox proportional hazard models were used to predict treatment escalation from first-line treatment to biologics or surgery (hazard ratio (HR) 25.9, p=1.1×10-12; 95% confidence interval (CI), 8.52-78.78). Application to an independent replication cohort of 54 IBD patients yielded a HR of 5.1 (p=1.1×10-5; 95% CI, 2.54-10.1). These data demonstrate the prognostic capacity of serum N-glycan biomarkers and represent a step towards personalized medicine in IBD.

BACKGROUND: Epigenetic alterations may provide valuable insights into gene-environment interactions play in the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). METHODS: Genome-wide methylation was measured from peripheral blood using the Illumina 450k platform in a case-control study in an inception cohort (295 controls, 154 CD, 161 UC, 28 IBD-U) with covariates of age, sex, and cell counts, deconvoluted by the Houseman method. Genotyping was performed using Illumina HumanOmniExpressExome-8 BeadChips and gene expression using Ion AmpliSeq Human Gene Expression Core Panel. Treatment escalation was characterised by the need for biological agents or surgery after initial disease remission. RESULTS: A total of 137 differentially methylated positions (DMP) were identified in IBD, including VMP1/MIR21 (p=9.11×10 -15) and RPS6KA2 (6.43×10 -13); with consistency seen across Scandinavia and UK. Dysregulated loci demonstrate strong genetic influence, notably VMP1 (p=1.53×10 -15). Age acceleration is seen in IBD (coefficient 0.94, p<2.2x10 -16). Several immuno-active genes demonstrated highly significant correlations between methylation and gene expression in IBD, in particular OSM: IBD r -0.32, p 3.64×10 -7 vs. non-IBD r -0.14, p=0.77). Multi-omic integration of methylome, genome and transcriptome also implicate specific pathways that associate with immune activation, response and regulation at disease inception. At follow up, a signature of 3 DMPs (TAP1, TESPA1, RPTOR) associated with treatment escalation to biological agents or surgery (hazard ratio of 5.19 (CI:2.14-12.56, logrank p=9.70×10 -4). CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate consistent epigenetic alterations at diagnosis in European patients with IBD, providing insights into the pathogenetic importance and translational potential of epigenetic mapping in complex disease.