Evaluation of clinical features, treatment options and complications in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) form a group of inflammatory diseases occurring in genetically-susceptible people, which are characterized by chronic progression and whose cause is not fully known. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of IBD in our region and examine the clinical characteristics, sociodemographic features, and treatment results of IBD patients.Methods: Our study retrospectively investigates 211 patients over 18 years of age who were monitored for an IBD diagnosis between January 2, 2013, and December 31, 2019, by the gastroenterology department of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University’s Faculty of Medicine. The mean age, female-male ratio, smoking habits, disease severity, and localization sites were identified for included patients. Local and systemic complications of administered treatment types and reasons for surgical treatment were also assessed in patients.Results: Of the 211 patients with IBD diagnoses, 158 (74.9%) had Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and 53 (25.1%) had a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease (CD). The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 43.97±16.22 years for UC patients and 42.30±14.73 years for CD cases. The involvement sites for UC were distal colitis for 58.4% of patients, left colon for 24.1% of patients, pancolitis for 16.5% of patients, and backwash ileitis for 7% of patients. According to the treatment results, 152 (72.0%) patients took 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) alone, 48 (22.8%) took thiopurine, and 20 (9.5%) took anti-TNF.Conclusion: Knowing the demographic, clinical, and laboratory features of these diseases, which are frequently seen in our region, can support the early identification of probable complications that may occur and the selection of appropriate approaches during diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up monitoring of these diseases.Keywords: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Severity of Illness Index, Abdominal Pain, Diarrhea