Identifying and Predicting the Goals and Concerns Prioritised by Individuals with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Framework of IBD Care Delivery Across Ages

IBD care has gone through a real transformation over the last century, moving from the mere unidirectional interaction between the physician and the patient to a stronger framework with multiple stakeholders who interconnect and strengthen each other. The patient has evolved from a passive subject to the central pole in the care pathway. Key elements of the future framework include patient self-care and empowerment, and remote monitoring [eHealth]. This care will be delivered by a multidisciplinary team acknowledging the pivotal role of the IBD nurse, and emphasising and measuring the quality of its work. The big challenge for the future is to establish a financially viable model to make this evolution durable in the long term, and this by using the principles of value-based health care.

Concordance and Discordance Between Patient-reported Remission, Patient-reported Outcomes, and Physician Global Assessment

BACKGROUND

Although validated patient-reported outcome (PRO) measurements can categorize patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) into clinical remission or active disease, patients may have different definitions of remission. The purpose of this study was to compare patient-defined remission to remission based on PRO measures and physician global assessment (PGA) and to understand the clinical and demographic factors associated with disagreements.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 3257 de-identified surveys from 2004 IBD patients who consented to participate in the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's IBD Qorus Learning Health System between September 2019 and February 2021. We used logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations to analyze the clinical and demographic factors (eg, age, disease duration, health confidence) associated with discordance between patient-defined remission (yes/no) and PRO-defined remission for ulcerative colitis (UC; PRO2: stool frequency, rectal bleeding) and Crohn's disease (CD; PRO-3: average number of liquid stools, abdominal pain, well-being).

RESULTS

Among patients with UC, overall concordance was 79% between patient self-report and PRO2-defined remission and 49% between patient self-report and PGA-defined remission. Among patients with CD, overall concordance was 69% between patient self-report and PRO3-defined remission and 54% between patient self-report and PGA-defined remission. Patients in PRO-defined remission were more likely to report active disease if they had IBD <5 years and low health confidence. Patients with PRO-defined active disease were more likely to report remission if they were not using prednisone and had high health confidence.

CONCLUSION

Discordance exists between how remission is defined by patients, PRO measures, and PGA.

Identifying and understanding disease burden in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE

Physicians tend to focus on biomedical targets while little is known about issues important to patients. We aimed to identify critical concepts impacting patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

DESIGN

We performed a survey of patients with IBD in biologic therapy (n=172) and used a validated qualitative method called group concept mapping (GCM) in patient workshops. The survey included 13 questions on attitudes toward symptoms and issues related to IBD. In the eight workshops, patients (n=26) generated statements later clustered into concepts identifying issues impacting a patient's life. Patients ranked the statements.

RESULTS

In the survey, patients' mean age were 40 years (SD 13), 53% were women, and 38% had ulcerative colitis. They identified fatigue (57%) and stool frequency (46%) as the most critical symptoms impacting their daily lives regardless of disease activity. In the GCM workshops with Crohn's disease (n=13) (median age 42 years (IQR 39-51) and 62% were women), 335 statements divided among 10 concepts were generated, and the three most important concepts were 'Positive attitudes', 'Accept and recognition', and 'Sharing knowledge and experiences in life with Crohn's disease'. In the workshops with ulcerative colitis (n=13) (median age 43 years (IQR 36-49) and 69% were women), 408 statements divided into 11 concepts were generated; the most important concepts were 'Take responsibility and control over your life', 'Medication', and 'Everyday life with ulcerative colitis'.

CONCLUSION

Focusing solely on IBD symptoms, patients identified fatigue and stool frequency to impact daily life the most. However, when investigating the disease burden in a broader perspective beyond classic IBD symptoms, patients identified concepts with focus on emotional health to be most important.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev and Gentofte approved the questionnaire and methodology (work-zone no: 18015429).

Eliciting patients' healthcare goals and concerns: Do questions influence responses?

There is increasing interest in asking patients questions before their visits to elicit goals and concerns, which is part of the move to support the concept of coproducing care. The phrasing and delivery of such questions differs across settings and is likely to influence responses. This report describes a study that (i) used a three-level model to categorize the goals and concerns elicited by two different pre-visit questions, and (ii) describes associations between responses elicited and the phrasing and delivery of the two questions. The questions were administered to patients with rheumatic disease, and patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Paper-based responses from 150 patients with rheumatic disease and 338 patients with IBD were analyzed (163 paper, 175 electronic). The goals and concerns elicited were primarily disease or symptom-specific. The specific goal and concern examples featured in one pre-visit question were more commonly reported in responses to that question, compared to the question without examples. Questions completed electronically before the visit were associated with longer responses than those completed on paper in the waiting room. In conclusion, how and when patients' goals and concerns are elicited appears to have an impact on responses and warrants further investigation.