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Background CD is classically seen as a progressive disease leading to bowel damage and disability. Disability has been proposed by the Spirit-IOIBD consensus1 as an endpoint in disease modification trials. However, there is a paucity of data regarding disability in CD patients at diagnosis. Methods The “Crohn′s Disease Cohort Study” (CROCO) is an ongoing prospective cohort aiming to study the longitudinal evolution of bowel damage and disability following diagnosis of CD. All patients are included within 12 months following CD diagnosis and will be followed over 5 years with serial assessments of bowel damage and disability. At recruitment patients completed an IBD disability score questionnaire (DS),2 comprising several domains: mobility, self-care, major daily life activities, gastrointestinal-related problems, mental health and interaction with the environment. We here describe the baseline DS and its association with disease features, disease activity score (Harvey-Bradshaw Index), and biomarkers of disease activity, on the first patients recruited into CROCO. Results Ninety-four patients were recruited, of which 66 filled at least 80% of the questions in the DS questionnaire; of those 55% were male and median age at diagnosis was 30.6 [IQR 24.2;38.8]. The baseline visit occurred at a median time of 6 months [IQR 2.6;9.2] after CD diagnosis. Ileal involvement (L1/L3) was reported in 82% of patients; 68% had B1 phenotype, and 26% presented extra-intestinal manifestations. Overall, 32% of patients had been hospitalised, and 6% had a history of CD-related surgery. Regarding medication [from diagnosis to baseline], 55% received steroids, 56% immunosuppressants, and 65% Anti-TNF therapy. The median DS was 79 [IQR 67;108.2] (range: 49;198); only 2 patients (3%) patients presented DS>162 (the central value of the DS), indicating no or mild disability. No correlations were found between clinical or analytical biomarkers of disease activity at the time of recruitment (Table 1). Associations between disease features and DS are displayed in Table 2. A history of CD-related hospitalisation was associated with a significantly higher DS (103 [IQR 79;157] versus 76.5 [65.5;97], p=0.013). No other associations were observed. Conclusion In a cohort of newly diagnosed CD patients, disability was mostly mild and independent of disease activity, disease location or behaviour; around 1/3 required hospitalisation within the first year of diagnosis, which was associated with increased disability. These data add to the growing concept that newly diagnosed disease represents a window of opportunity for intervention.

Background & aims: The Lémann Index is a tool measuring cumulative structural bowel damage in Crohn's disease (CD). We reported on its validation and updating. Methods: This was an international, multicenter, prospective, cross-sectional observational study. At each center, 10 inclusions, stratified by CD duration and location, were planned. For each patient, the digestive tract was divided into 4 organs, upper tract, small bowel, colon/rectum, anus, and subsequently into segments, explored systematically by magnetic resonance imaging and by endoscopies in relation to disease location. For each segment, investigators retrieved information on previous surgical procedures, identified predefined strictures and penetrating lesions of maximal severity (grades 1-3) at each organ investigational method (gastroenterologist and radiologist for magnetic resonance imaging), provided segmental damage evaluation ranging from 0.0 to 10.0 (complete resection). Organ resection-free cumulative damage evaluation was then calculated from the sum of segmental damages. Then investigators provided a 0- 10 global damage evaluation from the 4-organ standardized cumulative damage evaluations. Simple linear regressions of investigator damage evaluations on their corresponding Lémann Index were studied, as well as calibration plots. Finally, updated Lémann Index was derived through multiple linear mixed models applied to combined development and validation samples. Results: In 15 centers, 134 patients were included. Correlation coefficients between investigator damage evaluations and Lémann Indexes were >0.80. When analyzing data in 272 patients from both samples and 27 centers, the unbiased correlation estimates were 0.89, 0, 97, 0, 94, 0.81, and 0.91 for the 4 organs and globally, and stable when applied to one sample or the other. Conclusions: The updated Lémann Index is a well- established index to assess cumulative bowel damage in CD that can be used in epidemiological studies and disease modification trials.

BACKGROUND: The lack of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of 5-aminosalicylate in patients with Crohn's disease is in sharp contrast to its widespread use in clinical practice.AIMS: The aim of the study was to investigate the use of 5-aminosalicylate in patients with Crohn's disease as well as the disease course of a subgroup of patients who were treated with 5-aminosalicylate as maintenance monotherapy during the first year of disease.METHODS: In a European community-based inception cohort, 488 patients with Crohn's disease were followed from the time of their diagnosis. Information on clinical data, demographics, disease activity, medical therapy and rates of surgery, cancers and deaths was collected prospectively. Patient management was left to the discretion of the treating gastroenterologists.RESULTS: Overall, 292 (60%) patients with Crohn's disease received 5-aminosalicylate period during follow-up for a median duration of 28 months (interquartile range 6-60). Of these, 78 (16%) patients received 5-aminosalicylate monotherapy during the first year following diagnosis. Patients who received monotherapy with 5-aminosalicylate experienced a mild disease course with only nine (12%) who required hospitalization, surgery, or developed stricturing or penetrating disease, and most never needed more intensive therapy. The remaining 214 patients were treated with 5-aminosalicylate as the first maintenance drug although most eventually needed to step up to other treatments including immunomodulators (75 (35%)), biological therapy (49 (23%)) or surgery (38 (18%)).CONCLUSION: In this European community-based inception cohort of unselected Crohn's disease patients, 5-aminosalicylate was commonly used. A substantial group of these patients experienced a quiescent disease course without need of additional treatment during follow-up. Therefore, despite the controversy regarding the efficacy of 5-aminosalicylate in Crohn's disease, its use seems to result in a satisfying disease course for both patients and physicians.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) places a significant burden on health-care systems because of its chronicity and need for expensive therapies and surgery. With increasing use of biological therapies, contemporary data on IBD health-care costs are important for those responsible for allocating resources in Europe. To our knowledge, no prospective long-term analysis of the health-care costs of patients with IBD in the era of biologicals has been done in Europe. We aimed to investigate cost profiles of a pan-European, community-based inception cohort during 5 years of follow-up.METHODS: The Epi-IBD cohort is a community-based, prospective inception cohort of unselected patients with IBD diagnosed in 2010 at centres in 20 European countries plus Israel. Incident patients who were diagnosed with IBD according to the Copenhagen Diagnostic Criteria between Jan 1, and Dec 31, 2010, and were aged 15 years or older the time of diagnosis were prospectively included. Data on clinical characteristics and direct costs (investigations and outpatient visits, blood tests, treatments, hospitalisations, and surgeries) were collected prospectively using electronic case-report forms. Patient-level costs incorporated procedures leading to the initial diagnosis of IBD and costs of IBD management during the 5-year follow-up period. Costs incurred by comorbidities and unrelated to IBD were excluded. We grouped direct costs into the following five categories: investigations (including outpatient visits and blood tests), conventional medical treatment, biological therapy, hospitalisation, and surgery.FINDINGS: The study population consisted of 1289 patients with IBD, with 1073 (83%) patients from western Europe and 216 (17%) from eastern Europe. 488 (38%) patients had Crohn's disease, 717 (56%) had ulcerative colitis, and 84 (6%) had IBD unclassified. The mean cost per patient-year during follow-up for patients with IBD was €2609 (SD 7389; median €446 [IQR 164-1849]). The mean cost per patient-year during follow-up was €3542 (8058; median €717 [214-3512]) for patients with Crohn's disease, €2088 (7058; median €408 [133-1161]) for patients with ulcerative colitis, and €1609 (5010; median €415 [92-1228]) for patients with IBD unclassified (pINTERPRETATION: Overall direct expenditure on health care decreased over a 5-year follow-up period. This period was characterised by increasing expenditure on biologicals and decreasing expenditure on conventional medical treatments, hospitalisations, and surgeries. In light of the expenditures associated with biological therapy, cost-effective treatment strategies are needed to reduce the economic burden of inflammatory bowel disease.FUNDING: Kirsten og Freddy Johansens Fond and Nordsjællands Hospital Forskningsråd.

IntroductionMethotrexate (MTX) has been utilized for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) for decades. Nevertheless, current data provide equivocal evidence on the efficacy of MTX in CD.The aims of this study were to describe the efficacy of MTX for maintenance of remission in CD and to identify the factors associated with the probability of steroid-free clinical remission in a multicenter European referral center cohort.Patients and methodsThis was a retrospective cohort analysis. Consecutive patients treated with MTX for CD were included from 11 referral centers. Patients receiving concomitant treatment with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors or thiopurines were excluded. The main outcome was steroid-free clinical remission; the secondary outcomes included the rate of complications leading to MTX discontinuation and duration of relapse-free survival in patients achieving the main outcome.ResultsBetween July 1992 and January 2012, 118 patients were identified for inclusion. MTX administration route was oral for induction in 31.4% and for maintenance in 49.1% of the patients. Steroid-free remission was achieved in 44/118 (37.2%) patients and was maintained relapse free by 28/44 (63.6%) for a median of 12 (3.5-18.5) months. At least one adverse effect was reported by 28.9% of the patients. No clinical or demographic factors were associated with either likelihood of achieving a clinical response or duration of relapse-free survival.ConclusionMTX treatment induced steroid-free clinical remission in over a third of CD patients and maintained it for a year in almost two-thirds of the responders. MTX should be considered a viable therapeutic option in CD patients refractory to other therapies.

Background The Lémann index (LI) is the first instrument developed to measure cumulative structural bowel damage in Crohn’s disease (CD).1 We here report its validation. Methods This was an international, multicentre, prospective cross-sectional observational study. At each centre, 10 inclusions, stratified by known or suspected CD location and duration, were planned. Clinical examination and abdominal MRI had to be performed in all patients, and upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, and pelvic MRI according to CD location. Upper tract (UT), small bowel (SB), colon/rectum (CR), and anus (AN) were divided into 3, 20, 6 and 1 segments, respectively. History of previous surgery was collected per segment. For each segment, 1 gastroenterologist and 1 radiologist per centre, identified the presence of predefined stricturing and/or penetrating lesions of maximal severity (grade 1 to 3) at each investigation. They provided a damage evaluation for each non-resected segment ranging from 0 to 10, 10 corresponding to the damage of a completely resected segment. Investigator organ damage evaluation was calculated as the sum of segmental damage evaluations. Finally, investigators provided a global damage evaluation from 0 to 10 for each patient according to the 4 organ damage scores, calculated as a function of investigator organ damage evaluations, resections and a total number of segments. The correlation between the investigator global damage evaluation and the LI was high on the construction sample, since coefficients to derive the LI were estimated by maximising this correlation, and is expected to be lower on data obtained in new patients by new investigators. Thus, the LI would be validated if the linear regression model of investigator global damage evaluation on LI shows a still high correlation. The same applies to investigator damage evaluation of each organ and each organ component of the LI. Results 134 patients were included in 15 centres, 7 to 10 per centre. Correlation coefficients between investigator organ damage evaluation and each organ component of the LI were 0.91, 0.96, 0.95, and 0.81, for UT, SB, CR and AN, respectively. The correlation coefficient between investigator global damage evaluation and the LI was 0.98 (Figure 1). Proportions of the investigator organ damage evaluation variance explained by each organ component of the LI were 82%, 91%, 89%, 65%, for UT, SB, CR, AN, respectively. This proportion was 96% for the investigator global damage evaluation and the LI. Conclusion The Lémann index is now a validated index to assess cumulative bowel damage in CD that can be used in epidemiological studies and disease modification trials. Reference

Background and Aims: Few population-based cohort studies have assessed the disease course of ulcerative colitis [UC] in the era of biological therapy and widespread use of immunomodulators. The aim of this study was to assess the 5-year outcome and disease course of patients with UC in the Epi-IBD cohort.Methods: In a prospective, population-based inception cohort of unselected patients with UC, patients were followed up from the time of their diagnosis, which included the collection of their clinical data, demographics, disease activity, medical therapy, and rates of surgery, cancers, and deaths. Associations between outcomes and multiple covariates were analysed by Cox regression analysis.Results: A total of 717 patients were included in the study. During follow-up, 43 [6%] patients underwent a colectomy and 163 [23%] patients were hospitalised. Of patients with limited colitis [distal to the left flexure], 90 [21%] progressed to extensive colitis. In addition, 92 [27%] patients with extensive colitis experienced a regression in disease extent, which was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalisation (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.5 95% CI: 0.3-0.8]. Overall, patients were treated similarly in both geographical regions; 80 [11%] patients needed biological therapy and 210 [29%] patients received immunomodulators. Treatment with immunomodulators was found to reduce the risk of hospitalisation [HR: 0.5 95% CI: 0.3-0.8].Conclusions: Although patients in this population-based cohort were treated more aggressively with immunomodulators and biological therapy than in cohorts from the previous two decades, their disease outcomes, including colectomy rates, were no different. However, treatment with immunomodulators was found to reduce the risk of hospitalisation.

Background and Aims: The ECCO-EpiCom study investigates the differences in the incidence and therapeutic management of inflammatory bowel diseases [IBD] between Eastern and Western Europe. The aim of this study was to analyse the differences in the disease phenotype, medical therapy, surgery, and hospitalization rates in the ECCO-EpiCom 2011 inception cohort during the first year after diagnosis. Methods: Nine Western, five Eastern European centres and one Australian centre with 258 Crohn’s disease [CD], 380 ulcerative colitis [UC] and 71 IBD unclassified [IBDU] patients [female/male: 326/383; mean age at diagnosis: 40.9 years, SD: 17.3 years] participated. Patients’ data were registered and entered in the web-based ECCO-EpiCom database [www.epicom-ecco.eu]. Results: In CD, 36 [19%] Western Europe/Australian and 6 [9%] Eastern European patients received biological therapy [ p = 0.04], but the immunosuppressive [IS] use was equal and high in these regions [Eastern Europe vs Western Europe/Australia: 53% vs 45%; p = 0.27]. Surgery was performed in 17 [24%] CD patients in Eastern Europe and 13 [7%] in Western Europe/Australia [ p < 0.001, p LogRank = 0.001]. Of CD patients from Eastern Europe, 24 [34%] were hospitalized, and 39 [21%] from Western Europe/Australia, [ p = 0.02, p LogRank = 0.01]. In UC, exposure to biologicals and colectomy rates were low and hospitalization rates did not differ between these regions during the 1-year follow-up period [16% vs 16%; p = 0.93]. Conclusions: During the first year after diagnosis, surgery and hospitalization rates were significantly higher in CD patients in Eastern Europe compared with Western Europe/Australia, whereas significantly more CD patients were treated with biologicals in the Western Europe/Australian centres.

Cost analysis in a prospective European population-based inception cohort : is there a cost-saving effect of biological therapy?

Background and aims: The aim of the present study was to validate the IBD (inflammatory bowel diseases) incidence reported in the 2010 ECCO-EpiCom (European Crohn's and Colitis Organization–Epidemiological Committee) inception cohort by including a second independent inception cohort from participating centers in 2011 and an Australian center to investigate whether there is a difference in the incidence of IBD between Eastern and Western European countries and Australia. Methods: Fourteen centers from 5 Eastern and 9 Western European countries and one center from Australia participated in the ECCO-EpiCom 2011 inception cohort. Patients' data regarding disease type, socio-demographic factors, extraintestinal manifestations and therapy were entered into the Web-based EpiCom database, www.ecco-epicom.eu. Results: A total of 711 adult patients were diagnosed during the inclusion year 2011, 178 (25%) from Eastern, 461 (65%) from Western Europe and 72 (10%) from Australia; 259 (37%) patients were diagnosed with Crohn's disease, 380 (53%) with ulcerative colitis and 72 (10%) with IBD unclassified. The mean annual incidence rate for IBD was 11.3/100,000 in Eastern Europe, 14.0/100,000 in Western Europe and 30.3/100,000 in Australia. Significantly more patients were diagnosed with complicated disease at diagnosis in Eastern Europe compared to Western Europe (43% vs. 27%, p = 0.02). Conclusion: Incidence rates, disease phenotype and initial treatment characteristics in the 2011 ECCO-EpiCom cohort were not significantly different from that reported in the 2010 cohort. * Abbreviations: : IBD : inflammatory bowel diseases CD : Crohn's disease UC : ulcerative colitis IBDU : inflammatory bowel disease unclassified ECCO : European Crohn's and Colitis Organization EpiCom : Epidemiological Committee IRR : incidence rate ratio CI : confidence interval EC-IBD : European Collaborative Study on Inflammatory Bowel Disease ACCESS : Asia-Pacific Crohn's and Colitis Epidemiology Study SE : standard error

Background and Aims: The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing in Eastern Europe possibly due to changes in environmental factors towards a more "westernised" standard of living. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in exposure to environmental factors prior to diagnosis in Eastern and Western European IBD patients. Methods: The EpiCom cohort is a population-based, prospective inception cohort of 1560 unselected IBD patients from 31 European countries covering a background population of 10.1. million. At the time of diagnosis patients were asked to complete an 87-item questionnaire concerning environmental factors. Results: A total of 1182 patients (76%) answered the questionnaire, 444 (38%) had Crohn's disease (CD), 627 (53%) ulcerative colitis (UC), and 111 (9%) IBD unclassified. No geographic differences regarding smoking status, caffeine intake, use of oral contraceptives, or number of first-degree relatives with IBD were found. Sugar intake was higher in CD and UC patients from Eastern Europe than in Western Europe while fibre intake was lower (p.

Natural disease course of inflammatory bowel disease unclassified in a prospective European population-based inception cohort-the Epi-IBD cohort

Background The EpiCom-study investigates a possible East-West-gradient in Europe in the incidence of IBD and the association with environmental factors. A secured web-based database is used to facilitate and centralize data registration. Aim To construct and validate a web-based inception cohort database available in both English and Russian language. Method The EpiCom database has been constructed in collaboration with all 34 participating centers. The database was translated into Russian using forward translation, patient questionnaires were translated by simplified forward-backward translation. Data insertion implies fulfillment of international diagnostic criteria, disease activity, medical therapy, quality of life, work productivity and activity impairment, outcome of pregnancy, surgery, cancer and death. Data is secured by the WinLog3 System, developed in cooperation with the Danish Data Protection Agency. Validation of the database has been performed in two consecutive rounds, each followed by corrections in accordance with comments. Results The EpiCom database fulfills the requirements of the participating countries' local data security agencies by being stored at a single location. The database was found overall to be "good" or "very good" by 81% of the participants after the second validation round and the general applicability of the database was evaluated as "good" or "very good" by 77%. In the inclusion period January 1st –December 31st 2010 1336 IBD patients have been included in the database. Conclusion A user-friendly, tailor-made and secure web-based inception cohort database has been successfully constructed, facilitating remote data input. The incidence of IBD in 23 European countries can be found at www.epicom-ecco.eu.

Disease course during the first five years following diagnosis in a prospective European population-based inception cohort - the ECCO-EpiCom cohort

Change in Crohn's disease behavior in a prospective European population-based inception cohort - the ECCO-EpiCom cohort

Frequency of anaemia and anaemia subtypes in east-west European inception cohort : an ECCO-EpiCom cohort study

BACKGROUND: No direct comparison of health care cost in patients with inflammatory bowel disease across the European continent exists. The aim of this study was to assess the costs of investigations and treatment for diagnostics and during the first year after diagnosis in Europe.METHODS: The EpiCom cohort is a prospective population-based inception cohort of unselected inflammatory bowel disease patients from 31 Western and Eastern European centers. Patients were followed every third month from diagnosis, and clinical data regarding treatment and investigations were collected. Costs were calculated in euros (€) using the Danish Health Costs Register.RESULTS: One thousand three hundred sixty-seven patients were followed, 710 with ulcerative colitis, 509 with Crohn's disease, and 148 with inflammatory bowel disease unclassified. Total expenditure for the cohort was €5,408,174 (investigations: €2,042,990 [38%], surgery: €1,427,648 [26%], biologicals: €781,089 [14%], and standard treatment: €1,156,520 [22%)]). Mean crude expenditure per patient in Western Europe (Eastern Europe) with Crohn's disease: investigations €1803 (€2160) (P = 0.44), surgery €11,489 (€13,973) (P = 0.14), standard treatment €1027 (€824) (P = 0.51), and biologicals €7376 (€8307) (P = 0.31). Mean crude expenditure per patient in Western Europe (Eastern Europe) with ulcerative colitis: investigations €1189 ( €1518) (P < 0.01), surgery €18,414 ( €12,395) (P = 0.18), standard treatment €896 ( €798) (P < 0.05), and biologicals €5681 ( €72) (P = 0.51).CONCLUSIONS: In this population-based unselected cohort, costs during the first year of disease were mainly incurred by investigative procedures and surgeries. However, biologicals accounted for >15% of costs. Long-term follow-up of the cohort is needed to assess the cost-effectiveness of biological agents.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is impaired in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The aim was prospectively to assess and validate the pattern of HRQoL in an unselected, population-based inception cohort of IBD patients from Eastern and Western Europe.METHODS: The EpiCom inception cohort consists of 1560 IBD patients from 31 European centres covering a background population of approximately 10.1million. Patients answered the disease specific Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ) and generic Short Form 12 (SF-12) questionnaire at diagnosis and after one year of follow-up.RESULTS: In total, 1079 patients were included in this study. Crohn's disease (CD) patients mean SIBDQ scores improved from 45.3 to 55.3 in Eastern Europe and from 44.9 to 53.6 in Western Europe. SIBDQ scores for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients improved from 44.9 to 57.4 and from 48.8 to 55.7, respectively. UC patients needing surgery or biologicals had lower SIBDQ scores before and after compared to the rest, while biological therapy improved SIBDQ scores in CD. CD and UC patients in both regions improved all SF-12 scores. Only Eastern European UC patients achieved SF-12 summary scores equal to or above the normal population.CONCLUSION: Medical and surgical treatment improved HRQoL during the first year of disease. The majority of IBD patients in both Eastern and Western Europe reported a positive perception of disease-specific but not generic HRQoL. Biological therapy improved HRQoL in CD patients, while UC patients in need of surgery or biological therapy experienced lower perceptions of HRQoL than the rest.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The EpiCom study and inception cohort was initiated in 2010 in 31 centers from 14 Western and 8 Eastern European countries, covering a 10.1million person background population. Our aim was to investigate whether there is a difference between Eastern and Western Europe in health care and education of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).METHODS: A quality of care (QoC) questionnaire was developed in the EpiCom group consisting of 16 questions covering 5 items: time interval between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis, information, education, empathy and access to health care providers.RESULTS: Of 1,515 patients, 947 (217 east/730 west) answered the QoC questionnaire. Only 23% of all patients had knowledge about IBD before diagnosis. In Eastern Europe, significantly more patients searched out information about IBD themselves (77% vs. 68%, pCONCLUSION: Health care differed significantly between Eastern and Western Europe in all items, but satisfaction rates were high in both geographic regions. Because of the low awareness and the rising incidence of IBD, general information should be the focus of patient organizations and medical societies. In Western Europe IBD nurses play a very important role in reducing the burden of patient management.

Objective: The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing in Eastern Europe. The reasons for these changes remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an East-West gradient in the incidence of IBD in Europe exists. Design: A prospective, uniformly diagnosed, population based inception cohort of IBD patients in 31 centres from 14 Western and eight Eastern European countries covering a total background population of approximately 10.1 million people was created. One-third of the centres had previous experience with inception cohorts. Patients were entered into a low cost, web based epidemiological database, making participation possible regardless of socioeconomic status and prior experience. Results: 1515 patients aged 15 years or older were included, of whom 535 (35%) were diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD), 813 (54%) with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 167 (11%) with IBD unclassified (IBDU). The overall incidence rate ratios in all Western European centres were 1.9 (95% CI 1.5 to 2.4) for CD and 2.1 (95% CI 1.8 to 2.6) for UC compared with Eastern European centres. The median crude annual incidence rates per 100 000 in 2010 for CD were 6.5 (range 0-10.7) in Western European centres and 3.1 (range 0.4-11.5) in Eastern European centres, for UC 10.8 (range 2.9-31.5) and 4.1 (range 2.4-10.3), respectively, and for IBDU 1.9 (range 0-39.4) and 0 (range 0-1.2), respectively. In Western Europe, 92% of CD, 78% of UC and 74% of IBDU patients had a colonoscopy performed as the diagnostic procedure compared with 90%, 100% and 96%, respectively, in Eastern Europe. 8% of CD and 1% of UC patients in both regions underwent surgery within the first 3 months of the onset of disease. 7% of CD patients and 3% of UC patients from Western Europe received biological treatment as rescue therapy. Of all European CD patients, 20% received only 5-aminosalicylates as induction therapy. Conclusions: An East-West gradient in IBD incidence exists in Europe. Among this inception cohort-including indolent and aggressive cases-international guidelines for diagnosis and initial treatment are not being followed uniformly by physicians.

The EpiCom cohort is a prospective, population-based, inception cohort of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients from 31 European centers covering a background population of 10.1 million. The aim of this study was to assess the 1-year outcome in the EpiCom cohort. Patients were followed-up every third month during the first 12 (±3) months, and clinical data, demographics, disease activity, medical therapy, surgery, cancers, and deaths were collected and entered in a Web-based database (www.epicom- ecco.eu). In total, 1367 patients were included in the 1- year follow-up. In western Europe, 65 Crohn's disease (CD) (16%), 20 ulcerative colitis (UC) (4%), and 4 IBD unclassified (4%) patients underwent surgery, and in eastern Europe, 12 CD (12%) and 2 UC (1%) patients underwent surgery. Eighty-one CD (20%), 80 UC (14%), and 13 (9%) IBD unclassified patients were hospitalized in western Europe compared with 17 CD (16%) and 12 UC (8%) patients in eastern Europe. The cumulative probability of receiving immunomodulators was 57% for CD in western (median time to treatment 2 months) and 44% (1 month) in eastern Europe, and 21% (5 months) and 5% (6 months) for biological therapy, respectively. For UC patients, the cumulative probability was 22% (4 months) and 15% (3 months) for immunomodulators and 6% (3 months) and 1% (12 months) for biological therapy, respectively in the western and eastern Europe. In this cohort, immunological therapy was initiated within the first months of disease. Surgery and hospitalization rates did not differ between patients from eastern and western Europe, although more western European patients received biological agents and were comparable to previous population- based inception cohorts.

The risk of proximal disease extension in patients with limited ulcerative colitis in a prospective European population-based inception cohort - the ECCO-EpiCom cohort

The cost of investigations and medical treatment including biological therapy in a European inception cohort from the biological era : An ECCO-EpiCom study