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Vedolizumab is a monoclonal antibody used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). There is little known about the safety and comparative efficacy of this agent in the elderly population. Here, we present data on the safety and comparative efficacy of vedolizumab versus tumor necrosis factor α antagonists (anti-TNF) in elderly patients with IBD. This retrospective cohort study included IBD patients started on vedolizumab or anti-TNF at age 60 or older at a single tertiary IBD center. Safety was evaluated by assessing for the development of serious infection. The comparative needs for IBD-related surgery, IBD-related hospitalization, and drug discontinuation for any reason were obtained. Efficacy was assessed by comparing changes in endoscopic, histologic, and patient-report outcomes. 212 cases were identified—108 patients treated with vedolizumab and 104 patients treated with anti-TNF. There were no significant differences between cohorts in serious infection, surgical intervention, or IBD-hospitalization-free survival (p = NS). Drug discontinuation survival was different between anti-TNF and vedolizumab (p = 0.02) with more patients remaining on vedolizumab at the time of last follow-up (51.9% vs. 25.9%). Endoscopic remission and response rates were higher in the vedolizumab versus anti-TNF group (65.7% vs. 45.2%, p = 0.02; 80.0% vs. 59.3%, p

Background Prior research demonstrates Crohn’s disease patients often do well in pregnancy; however, less is known about the risk of flare in the postpartum period. Methods A retrospective chart review was conducted at a tertiary care inflammatory bowel disease center. All pregnant women with Crohn’s disease who were followed in the postpartum period, defined as 6 months after delivery, were included. Statistical analysis included χ 2 analysis, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and logistic regression analysis. The primary outcome of interest was rate of flare in the postpartum period. Results There were 105 patients included in the study, with a majority (68%) on biologic medication during pregnancy. Thirty-one patients (30%) had a postpartum flare at a median of 9 weeks (range 2–24 weeks). Twenty-five patients (81%) had their postpartum flare managed in the outpatient setting with medications (only 4 of these patients required prednisone). 6 of 31 patients (19%) were hospitalized at a median of 4 weeks (range 2–26 weeks) after delivery, requiring intravenous corticosteroids or surgery. In multivariable regression, there was no significant increase in risk of postpartum flare with increasing maternal age, flare during pregnancy, or steroid or biologic use during pregnancy. Smoking during pregnancy increased risk of postpartum flare (odds ratio, 16.2 [1.72–152.94], P Conclusion In a cohort of Crohn’s disease patients, 30% experienced a postpartum flare despite being on medical therapy, but most were able to be managed in the outpatient setting.

Background This study evaluated synchronous audiovisual telehealth and audio-only visits for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to determine frequency of successful telehealth visits and determine what factors increase the likelihood of completion. Methods Data were collected from March to July 2020 in a tertiary care adult IBD clinic that was transitioned to a fully telehealth model. A protocol for telehealth was implemented. A retrospective analysis was performed using electronic medical record (EMR) data. All patients were scheduled for video telehealth. If this failed, providers attempted to conduct the visit as audio only. Results Between March and July 2020, 2571 telehealth visits were scheduled for adult patients with IBD. Of these, 2498 (99%) were successfully completed by video or phone. Sixty percent were female, and the median age was 41 years. Eighty six percent of the population was white, 8% black, 2% other, and 4% were missing. Seventy-five percent had commercial insurance, 15% had Medicare, 5% had Medicaid, and 5% had other insurance. No significant factors were found for an attempted but completely failed visit. Using a multivariate logistic regression model, increasing age (odds ratio, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.55–2.08; P Conclusions There is a high success rate for telehealth within an IBD population with defined clinic protocols. Certain patient characteristics such as age, race, and health insurance type increase the risk of failure of a video visit.

While the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is incompletely understood, disruption of epithelial integrity is suspected to play a prominent role in disease initiation and progression. Currently, there is no convenient way to measure this in vivo. Our aim is to determine whether a mucosal integrity (MI) testing device that has been used to measure MI in the esophagus can also be used to measure barrier function in the colon during colonoscopy. Mucosal integrity testing was measured in patients with IBD (n = 17) and controls (n = 7) during colonoscopy. During the procedure, an MI catheter was passed down the working channel of the colonoscope and placed along the mucosal wall to measure MI in the rectum, left, transverse, and right colon. In patients with IBD, MI measurements and biopsies were taken in areas which appeared inflamed when present. We then determined if there was a significant difference in MI between patients with IBD and controls. MI was significantly higher in the rectum of patients with IBD (CD and UC combined) versus control colons [767 (618–991) vs. 531 (418–604) ohms, P

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is the measurement of drug and antidrug antibody concentrations in individuals to guide treatment decisions. In patients with Crohn disease (CD), TDM, used either reactively or proactively, is emerging as a valuable tool for optimization of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist therapy. Reactive TDM is carried out in response to treatment failure, whereas proactive TDM involves the periodic monitoring of patients responding to TNF antagonist therapy to allow treatment optimization. In patients with CD, most of the available data for TDM relate to the first-to-market TNF antagonist infliximab and, to a lesser extent, to adalimumab and certolizumab pegol. Several gastroenterology associations, including the American Gastroenterology Association, have endorsed the use of reactive TDM in patients with active CD. However, fewer recommendations currently exist for the use of proactive TDM, although several new prospective randomized controlled trials evaluating proactive TDM strategies have been published. In this review, the current evidence for reactive and proactive TDM is discussed, and a proactive treatment algorithm for certolizumab pegol based on previously published threshold concentrations is proposed.

Background A small proportion of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consume a disproportionate amount of health care resources, with most of these spent on unplanned care in emergency room (ER) and hospital visits. Interventions in those at high risk in the outpatient setting could reduce the need for future inpatient care. We sought to describe the characteristics predictive of high health care utilization within 1 year after an initial IBD clinic encounter. Methods This was a retrospective study of new IBD patients seen at the outpatient clinics of 2 tertiary IBD centers in the United States. Baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were collected, and the number of IBD-related ER and hospital visits were recorded over the 1-year period after the initial clinic encounter. Patients with ≥2 visits (high utilizers) were compared with those with no visits. Results Of the 735 patients included in the final analysis, 106 (14.4%) were high utilizers, and they had a mean of 2.9 visits (maximum = 10) in the 1 year after their initial encounter. In multivariate analysis, insurance coverage through medical assistance (odds ratio [OR] 3.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.38–9.20), steroid use (OR 1.83; 95% CI, 1.11–3.04), short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire score Conclusions Multidisciplinary care and resources should be preferentially channeled towards new clinic patients with severe disease and on medical assistance, as this could reduce future inpatient visits and result in cost savings.

Background Tofacitinib has been approved for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis and studied in Crohn’s disease. Understanding medication adherence to oral medications in severe disease is essential. Methods We retrospectively reviewed adherence and real-world outcomes of inflammatory bowel disease patients who initiated tofacitinib at a single care center. Adherence was measured by proportion of days covered. Results Sixty-three patients were identified. All patients failed at least one prior biologic therapy. Mean proportion of days covered was 95.7% for ulcerative colitis and 93.1% for Crohn’s disease. Significant clinical and endoscopic response was seen. Conclusion Adherence was high in a cohort with highly refractory disease.

Background In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), nonadherence to biologic therapy increases risk of disease flare. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for nonadherence. Methods This was a single-center retrospective study evaluating patients with IBD treated at a tertiary care center and prescribed self-injectable biologic therapy using the center’s specialty pharmacy. Adherence was defined using medication possession ratio (MPR). Nonadherence was defined as MPR Results Four hundred sixty patients (n = 393 with CD and n = 67 with UC) were evaluated with mean MPR (interquartile range) equaling 0.89 (0.48–1). Overall, 69% of patients were adherent (defined as MPR ≥0.86), 66% of patients with CD and 87% of patients with UC. In univariate analysis, several factors increased risk of nonadherence: CD diagnosis, insurance type, psychiatric history, smoking, prior biologic use, and narcotic use (P < 0.05). In multivariable analysis, Medicaid insurance (odds ratio [OR], 5.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.85–15.6) and CD diagnosis (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.3–6.0) increased risk of nonadherence. In CD, as the number of risk factors increased (narcotic use, psychiatric history, prior biologic use, and smoking), the probability of nonadherence increased. Adherence was 72% in patients with 0–1 risk factors, decreasing to 62%, 61%, and 42% in patients with 2, 3, and 4 risk factors, respectively (P < 0.05). Conclusions This study identified risk factors for nonadherence to biologic therapy. In patients with CD, the probability of nonadherence increased as the number of risk factors increased.

PurposeThe development of a tool to measure medication safety, therapeutic efficacy, and other quality outcomes in patients receiving self-injectable biologic therapy for the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at a health-system specialty pharmacy is described.SummaryThrough a collaborative initiative by pharmacists, gastro-enterologists, and representatives of a pharmacy benefit manager and a pharmaceutical company, a set of clinical and specialty pharmacy quality measures was developed. The clinical measures are intended for use in assessing patient safety, disease status, treatment efficacy, and healthcare resource utilization during 3 assessments (pre-treatment, on-treatment, and longitudinal). The specialty pharmacy measures can be used to assess medication adherence, medication persistence, specialty pharmacy accreditation, and patient satisfaction. The proposed quality measures provide a foundation for evaluating the quality of IBD care and improving patient outcomes within a health-system specialty pharmacy. Future efforts to validate and implement the tool in clinical practice are planned.ConclusionThe proposed quality measures provide a foundation for future inquiry regarding the appropriateness and feasibility of integrating the measures into clinical care. Further work is needed to implement and validate these quality measures and determine their impact in optimizing health outcomes.

Background & Aims This study compared the effectiveness of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to the Mediterranean diet (MD) as treatment for Crohn's disease (CD) with mild to moderate symptoms. Methods Adult patients with CD and with mild-to-moderate symptoms were randomly assigned 1:1 to consume the MD or SCD for 12 weeks. For the first 6 weeks, participants received prepared meals and snacks according to their assigned diet. After 6 weeks, participants were instructed to follow the diet independently. The primary outcome was symptomatic remission at week 6. Key secondary outcomes at week 6 included fecal calprotectin (FC) response (FC 50% among those with baseline FC >250 μg/g) and C-reactive protein (CRP) response (high-sensitivity CRP 50% reduction from baseline among those with high-sensitivity CRP >5 mg/L). Results The study randomized 194 patients, and 191 were included in the efficacy analyses. The percentage of participants who achieved symptomatic remission at week 6 was not superior with the SCD (SCD, 46.5%; MD, 43.5%; P = .77). FC response was achieved in 8 of 23 participants (34.8%) with the SCD and in 4 of 13 participants (30.8%) with the MD (P = .83). CRP response was achieved in 2 of 37 participants (5.4%) with the SCD and in 1 of 28 participants (3.6%) with the MD (P = .68). Conclusions The SCD was not superior to the MD to achieve symptomatic remission, FC response, and CRP response. CRP response was uncommon. Given these results, the greater ease of following the MD and other health benefits associated with the MD, the MD may be preferred to the SCD for most patients with CD with mild to moderate symptoms. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03058679

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) predispose patients to immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Although hepatitis is a potentially lethal toxicity, the timing and outcomes have not been well described. In this retrospective study, patients from six international institutions were included if they were treated with ICIs and developed immune-related hepatitis. Patient and tumor characteristics, and hepatitis management and outcomes were evaluated. Of the 164 patients included, most were male (53.7%) with a median age of 63.0 years. Most patients had melanoma (83.5%) and stage IV disease (86.0%). Median follow-up was 585 days; median OS and PFS were not reached. The initial grade of hepatitis was most often grade 2 (30.5%) or 3 (45.7%) with a median time to onset of 61 days. Patients were most commonly asymptomatic (46.2%), but flu-like symptoms, including fatigue/anorexia (17.1%), nausea/emesis (14.0%), abdominal/back pain (11.6%), and arthralgias/myalgias (8.5%) occurred. Most patients received glucocorticoids (92.1%); the median time to improvement by one grade was 13.0 days, and the median time to complete resolution was 52.0 days. Second-line immunosuppression was required in 37 patients (22.6%), and steroid-dose re-escalation in 45 patients (27.4%). Five patients (3%) died of ICI-hepatitis or complications of hepatitis treatment. Ninety-one patients (58.6%) did not resume ICI; of 66 patients (40 grade 1/2, 26 grade 3/4) that were rechallenged, only 25.8% (n = 17) had recurrence. In this multi-institutional cohort, immune-related hepatitis was associated with excellent outcomes but frequently required therapy discontinuation, high-dose steroids, and second-line immunosuppression. Rechallenge was associated with a modest rate of hepatitis recurrence.

Background The effectiveness and safety of gastroenterologist (GI)-lead treatment of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have not been well-studied. Methods A retrospective chart review of patients with IBD, IDA, and evidence of treatment with iron at a tertiary IBD center was conducted. Results In 351 patients, hemoglobin and quality of life scores increased significantly after treatment with iron. Twelve of 341 patients treated with intravenous iron had an adverse effect. Twenty-seven patients required a hematology referral. Conclusion GIs should consider treating patients with IBD and IDA with intravenous iron as it is safe and effective., Lay Summary We reviewed records of patients with anemia and inflammatory bowel disease and found that gastroenterologists can effectively and safely treat anemia in these patients. This improved patients’ quality of life. Most patients did not need to see a separate specialist.

Vedolizumab is a monoclonal antibody used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). There is little known about the safety and comparative efficacy of this agent in the elderly population.Here, we present data on the safety and comparative efficacy of vedolizumab versus tumor necrosis factor α antagonists (anti-TNF) in elderly patients with IBD.This retrospective cohort study included IBD patients started on vedolizumab or anti-TNF at age 60 or older at a single tertiary IBD center. Safety was evaluated by assessing for the development of serious infection. The comparative needs for IBD-related surgery, IBD-related hospitalization, and drug discontinuation for any reason were obtained. Efficacy was assessed by comparing changes in endoscopic, histologic, and patient-report outcomes.212 cases were identified-108 patients treated with vedolizumab and 104 patients treated with anti-TNF. There were no significant differences between cohorts in serious infection, surgical intervention, or IBD-hospitalization-free survival (p = NS). Drug discontinuation survival was different between anti-TNF and vedolizumab (p = 0.02) with more patients remaining on vedolizumab at the time of last follow-up (51.9% vs. 25.9%). Endoscopic remission and response rates were higher in the vedolizumab versus anti-TNF group (65.7% vs. 45.2%, p = 0.02; 80.0% vs. 59.3%, p 0.001).In a cohort of IBD patients over age 60, vedolizumab showed no statistically significant differences in infection, hospitalization, or surgical intervention-free survival as compared to anti-TNF. Vedolizumab was discontinued less frequently than anti-TNF. Patients on vedolizumab had higher rates of endoscopic remission and response.

Telemedicine has shown promise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The objective of this study was to compare disease activity and quality of life (QoL) in a 1 year randomized trial of IBD patients receiving telemedicine versus standard care. Patients with worsening symptoms in the prior 2 years were eligible for randomization to telemedicine (monitoring via texts EOW or weekly) or standard care. The primary outcomes were the differences in change in disease activity and QoL between the groups; change in health care utilization among groups was a secondary aim. 348 participants were enrolled (117 control group, 115 TELE-IBD EOW, and 116 TELE-IBD weekly). 259 (74.4%) completed the study. Age was 38.9 ± 12.3 years, 56.6% were women, 91.9% were Caucasian, 67.9% had Crohn’s disease (CD) and 42.5% had active disease at baseline. In CD, all groups experienced a decrease in disease activity (control −5.2 ± 5.0 to 3.7 ± 3.6, TELE-IBD EOW 4.7 ± 4.1 to 4.2 ± 3.9, and TELE-IBD weekly 4.2 ± 4.2 to 3.2 ± 3.4, p

Background Depression is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and is known to be associated with poor adherence in the usual care setting. In the last decade, there has been an increase in the use of information technology (IT) for the delivery of IBD care, but the association between depressive symptoms (DS) and adherence to self-testing in this context is not known. We aimed to investigate this association among IBD patients managed via a text messaging-based telemedicine system. Methods This was a prospective study of participants in the 2 intervention arms of the Telemedicine for Patients with IBD (TELE-IBD) trial. Depressive symptoms were measured at baseline, and then participants received periodic text messages to initiate IBD-specific self-testing. Treatment plans were similarly conveyed, and adherence to self-testing was evaluated at the end of 1 year. Regression analyses were performed, and age-stratified models were constructed to evaluate for effect modification. Results Of the 193 study participants, 48% had DS at baseline. Overall, there was no significant association between DS and adherence to self-testing. However, upon stratification by age, adherence increased with depressive symptoms in those that were 40 years and younger (P = 0.02), but there was no association between depressive symptoms and adherence in the older group (P = 0.53). Conclusions Younger IBD patients with DS have high adherence when managed in a text messaging-based telemedicine program. Telemedicine interventions have the potential to improve health outcomes in this demographic-a group that is often thought to be difficult to manage due to nonadherence.

Background Effective treatments are available for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, suboptimal outcomes occur and are often linked to patients’ limited disease knowledge. The aim of this analysis was to determine if delivery of educational messages through a telemedicine system improves IBD knowledge. Methods TELEmedicine for Patients with IBD (TELE-IBD) was a randomized controlled trial with visits at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months; patient knowledge was a secondary aim of the study. Patients were randomized to receive TELE-IBD every other week (EOW), weekly (TELE-IBD W), or standard of care. Knowledge was assessed at each visit with the Crohn’s and Colitis Knowledge (CCKNOW) survey. The primary outcome was change in CCKNOW score over 1 year compared between the TELE-IBD and control groups. Results This analysis included 219 participants. Participants in the TELE-IBD arms had a greater improvement in CCKNOW score compared with standard care (TELE-IBD EOW +2.4 vs standard care +1.8, P = 0.03; TELE-IBD W +2.0 vs standard care +1.8, P = 0.35). Participants with lower baseline CCKNOW scores had a greater change in their score over time (P < 0.01). However, after adjusting for race, site, and baseline knowledge, there was no difference in CCKNOW score change between the control and telemedicine arms. Conclusions Telemedicine improves IBD-specific knowledge through text messaging, although the improvement is not additive with greater frequency of text messages. However, after adjustment for confounding variables, telemedicine is not superior to education given through standard visits at referral centers. Further research is needed to determine if revised systems with different modes of delivery and/or frequency of messages improve disease knowledge.

BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with altered body composition, such as low muscle mass, which affects clinical outcomes. Body composition changes in overweight patients with IBD are less understood. The study aim was to determine the prevalence of sarcopenic overweight and obese patients in a cohort of patients with IBD starting new anti-tumor necrosis factor-α therapy and examine differences in response. METHODS This is a retrospective review of patients with IBD starting a new anti-tumor necrosis factor-α medication that had computed tomography within 3 months of initiation. L3 vertebral slice was used for segmentation of body composition and identification of sarcopenia. CRP, ESR, Harvey Bradshaw Index, albumin, 25-OH vitamin D, and body mass index at anti-tumor necrosis factor-α initiation and at 6 months were collected. Outcomes included hospitalization, need for surgery, or new biological medication. RESULTS Ninety patients were studied. Forty-one of ninety (45%) were sarcopenic; of these, 17 (41.5%) had a normal body mass index and 8 (19.5%) were overweight/obese. More men were sarcopenic (68% versus 32%, P < 0.001). CRP was higher and albumin lower in sarcopenic subjects. Sarcopenia did not predict outcomes in the cohort but was the only significant predictor of need for surgery in overweight and obese subjects (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Almost half of our cohort was sarcopenic. Most of these patients are normal or overweight and would not be identified as malnourished by traditional measures. Sarcopenia was a predictor of surgery in patients with a body mass index ≥ 25. Identification of sarcopenia has implications for medical nutrition therapy as typically efforts are focused on underweight patients.

Background Ustekinumab was approved for moderate and severe Crohn’s disease (CD) in 2016, but little is known about long-term outcomes. Methods A retrospective study evaluated all patients with CD treated with ustekinumab, including patients with reinduction. C-reactive protein (CRP), Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI), Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SIBDQ), and endoscopy outcomes were collected prospectively. Results Ninety-six patients received ustekinumab, resulting in improvement in CRP, HBI, and SIBDQ scores with 68% endoscopic improvement/remission. Thirty-four patients underwent reinduction, resulting in improved HBI and CRP. Conclusions Ustekinumab in refractory CD results in significant clinical and endoscopic improvement and reinduction may be a viable option to recapture response., Lay Summary This study shows that ustekinumab can be used to improve symptoms and disease markers in patients with severe Crohn disease who have failed prior medications. The study also demonstrates that reinduction can help regain response if needed.

Background Depression is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and contributes to poor quality of life (QoL). The use of information technology for the remote management of patients with IBD is growing, but little is known about its impact on depressive symptoms (DS) and QoL. We aimed to evaluate the impact of telemedicine on DS and generic QoL in IBD patients. Methods We analyzed data from the Telemedicine for Patients with IBD (TELE-IBD) study. During this 12-month clinical trial, patients were randomized to receive text message-based telemedicine weekly (TELE-IBD W), every other week (TELE-IBD EOW), or to standard care. Depressive symptoms and QoL were assessed over time with the Mental Health Inventory 5 (MHI-5) and the Short Form 12 (SF-12), respectively. We compared the change in MHI-5 and SF-12 (with separate physical (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores) between the study arms. Results A total of 217 participants were included in this analysis. After 1 year, there was no significant difference in the change in MHI-5 (TELE-IBD W +3.0 vs TELE-IBD EOW +0.7 vs standard care +3.4; P = 0.70), MCS (TELE-IBD W +1.4 vs TELE-IBD EOW +1.0 vs standard care +2.5; P = 0.89), and PCS scores (TELE-IBD W +0.4 vs TELE-IBD EOW +0.6 vs standard care +3.7; P = 0.06) between the groups. Conclusions Text message-based telemedicine does not improve DS or QoL when compared with standard care in IBD patients treated at tertiary referral centers. Further studies are needed to determine whether telemedicine improves DS or QoL in settings with few resources., Lay Summary This study showed that, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, the use of information technology to deliver care via text messaging did not improve depressive symptoms or quality of life when compared with usual healthcare.

Introduction The need to rapidly implement telehealth at large scale during the COVID-19 pandemic led to many patients using telehealth for the first time. We assessed the effect of structured pre-visit preparatory telephone calls on success of telehealth visits and examined risk factors for unsuccessful visits. Methods A retrospective cohort study was carried out of 45,803 adult patients scheduled for a total of 64,447 telehealth appointments between March and July 2020 at an academic medical center. A subset of patients received a structured pre-visit phone call. Demographic factors and inclusion of a pre-visit call were analysed by logistic regression. Primary outcomes were non-completion of any visit and completion of phone-only versus audio-visual telehealth visits. Results A pre-visit telephone call to a subset of patients significantly increased the likelihood of a successful telehealth visit (OR 0.54; 95% CI: 0.48–0.60). Patients aged 18–30 years, those with non-commercial insurance or those of Black race were more likely to have incomplete visits. Compared to age 18–30, increasing age increased likelihood of a failed video visit: 31–50 years (OR 1.31; 95% CI: 1.13–1.51), 51–70 years (OR 2.98; 2.60–3.42) and >70 years (OR 4.16; 3.58–4.82). Those with non-commercial insurance and those of Black race (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.67–1.92) were more likely to have a failed video visit. Discussion A structured pre-call to patients improved the likelihood of a successful video visit during widespread adoption of telehealth. Structured pre-calls to patients may be an important tool to help reduce gaps in utilization among groups.

The prevalence of depression is high in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD). We examined the influence of affective-cognitive symptoms of depression on the risk of exacerbation of CD.