Patient-reported outcome measures in inflammatory bowel disease

Hypophosphatemia attenuates improvements in vitality after intravenous iron treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

PURPOSE

Iron deficiency anemia is common in people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), causing deterioration in quality of life, which can be reversed by treatment that increases iron stores and hemoglobin levels. The present post hoc analyses estimate health state utility values for patients with IBD after treatment with ferric derisomaltose or ferric carboxymaltose and evaluate the health domains driving the changes.

METHODS

SF-36v2 responses were recorded at baseline and day 14, 35, 49, and 70 from 97 patients enrolled in the randomized, double-blind, PHOSPHARE-IBD trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03466983), in which patients with IBD across five European countries were randomly allocated to either ferric derisomaltose or ferric carboxymaltose. Changes in SF-36v2 scale scores and SF-6Dv2 health utility values were analyzed by mixed models.

RESULTS

In both treatment arms, SF-6Dv2 utility values and all SF-36v2 scale scores, except Bodily Pain, improved significantly (p =  < 0.0001). The improvement in SF-6Dv2 utility values showed no significant treatment group difference. The improvement in utility values was completely explained by improvement in Vitality scores. Vitality scores showed significantly larger improvement with ferric derisomaltose versus ferric carboxymaltose (p = 0.026). Patients with the smallest decrease in phosphate had significantly larger improvements in Vitality scores at each time point (p =  < 0.05 for all comparisons) and overall (p = 0.0006).

CONCLUSIONS

Utility values improved significantly with intravenous iron treatment. Improvement in utility values was primarily driven by Vitality scores, which showed significantly greater improvement in the ferric derisomaltose arm. Smaller decreases in phosphate were associated with significantly higher Vitality scores, suggesting that quality of life improvement is attenuated by hypophosphatemia. The utility values can inform future cost-utility analysis.

Disability, Physical Activity, and Their Correlates in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Portuguese Cross-Sectional Survey

Knowledge about disability and physical activity is critical for enhancing self- and clinical management of inflammatory bowel disease, but the interplay between the two is unknown. This study aimed to explore the correlates of disability and physical activity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in 2019 in Portuguese patients (n = 108) capturing disability, clinical factors including disease status and comorbidities, physical activity habits, and barriers. The magnitude of disability was moderate (mean [95% confidence interval] = 41.85 [38.39, 45.31]). Disease activity and comorbidities were the most important predictors of disability (Model 2, F(102) = 20.285, p < .001, R2 = 0.499, R2adj = 0.443). About 62% of the participants engaged in moderate (31.5%) to vigorous (30.6%) physical activities. Perceived effort to engage in physical activities was the sole predictor of total weekly physical activity (R2 = 0.070, R2adj = 0.044, p = .006). The amount of disability and physical activity were poorly associated (ρ = -0.144, p = .068). Findings encourage gastroenterology nurses and other healthcare providers involved in the comprehensive care of patients with gastrointestinal disorders to recommend regular physical activity to these patients as part of an overall health enhancement strategy. Disability and back pain should be given further attention.

Effects of COVID-19 vaccines on patient-reported outcomes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a multicenter survey study in Korea

BACKGROUND/AIMS

The impact of vaccination on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients is still unknown, and no studies have assessed the changes in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) after vaccination in patients with IBD. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the impact of vaccines on the PROs of patients with IBD.

METHODS

We conducted a questionnaire survey of patients with IBD who visited outpatient clinics at 4 specialized IBD clinics of referral university hospitals from April 2022 to June 2022. A total of 309 IBD patients were included in the study. Patient information was collected from a questionnaire and their medical records, including laboratory findings, were reviewed retrospectively. Risk factors associated with an increase in PROs after COVID-19 vaccination were analyzed using logistic regression analyses. In addition, we assessed whether there were differences in variables by vaccine order using the linear mixed model.

RESULTS

In multivariate analysis, young age ( < 40 years) and ulcerative colitis (UC) were found to be independent risk factors for aggravation of PROs in patients with IBD. In all patients, platelet count significantly increased with continued vaccination in multiple pairwise comparisons. In UC patients, PROs such as the short health scale, UC-abdominal signs and symptoms, and UC-bowel signs and symptoms were aggravated significantly with continued vaccination. There was no significant increase in the variables of patients with Crohn's disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, there may be a need to counsel patients with IBD younger than 40 years of age, and patients with UC before they receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

Toward Patient Centricity: Why Do Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Participate in Pharmaceutical Clinical Trials? A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Study Participants

Background

A better understanding of motivations to participate as well as recommendations to reduce barriers to enrollment may assist in design of future clinical trials.

Methods

We developed a 32-item electronic questionnaire to explore motivations, experiences, and recommendations of inflammatory bowel disease patients, who had participated in pharmaceutical clinical trials in a tertiary center in Canada over the last decade. We employed a mixed-methods approach that integrates both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Results

We distributed a total of 69 e-mails with surveys and received 46 responses (66.6% response rate). Study participants were mostly male (27/46, 58.7%), non-Hispanic White (43/46, 93.5%), with a mean age of 45.5 years (SD 10.9). Most decided to participate in a clinical trial to benefit future patients (29/46, 63.0%). Half of the participants (23/46, 50.0%) reported they were worried about the possibility of receiving placebo, although the majority (29/46, 63.0%) understood they could improve on placebo. The most challenging aspect reported was the number and length of questionnaires (15/46, 32.6%), as well as the number of colonoscopies (14/46, 30.4%). Strategies recommended to increase enrollment were reduction of the chance of receiving placebo (20/46, 43.5%), facilitating inclusion of patients who have failed multiple therapies (20/46, 43.5%), allowing virtual visits (18/46, 39.1%), including subtypes of disease traditionally excluded from trials (16/46, 34.8%) and improving outreach to underrepresented populations (13/46, 28.3%). The vast majority (37/46, 80.4%) reported their experience of participation to be better than expected.

Conclusions

These results should help inform the design of future clinical trials with a focus on patient-centricity.

Upadacitinib Induction and Maintenance Therapy Improves Abdominal Pain, Bowel Urgency, and Fatigue in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis: A Post Hoc Analysis of Phase 3 Data

BACKGROUND

This post hoc analysis of a large, phase 3 program evaluated the effects of upadacitinib on fatigue, bowel urgency, and abdominal pain in patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis.

METHODS

Induction data were pooled from 2 identical studies, the U-ACHIEVE induction and U-ACCOMPLISH studies. Patients in these studies received upadacitinib 45 mg once daily or placebo as induction treatment. Responders to induction treatment were rerandomized in the U-ACHIEVE maintenance study to upadacitinib 15 mg once daily, upadacitinib 30 mg, or placebo. The percentage of patients reporting no abdominal pain and no bowel urgency daily via an electronic diary and a meaningful within-person change (≥5 points) in the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score were evaluated.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated a statistically significantly greater percentage of patients reporting no abdominal pain and absence of bowel urgency observed from week 2 (P < .001), with upadacitinib induction treatment and clinically meaningful improvements in Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score observed at week 8 (P < .001), when compared with placebo. The maintenance study showed that significant and meaningful improvements in abdominal pain, bowel urgency, and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score achieved during induction were sustained through 52 weeks of maintenance treatment in upadacitinib- vs placebo-treated patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study support the additional benefit of upadacitinib in treating moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis by demonstrating a statistically significant impact on clinically meaningful symptoms of fatigue, bowel urgency, and abdominal pain.(U-ACHIEVE induction and maintenance studies; NCT02819635; U-ACCOMPLISH induction study; NCT03653026).

Health State Questionnaires Deployed in Ulcerative Colitis Patients: The Medical, Psychological, and Economic Perspective

Background and Aims

To determine how the health state of ulcerative colitis patients is impacted by their disease, different health state questionnaires are deployed. This study examines to what extent these health state questionnaires determine the same underlying health state concept and to what extent the complementary use of the health state questionnaires has added value for physicians.

Methods

In total, 307 patients were enrolled in this cross-sectional multicenter cohort study. Medical, psychological, economic, and composite health state questionnaires were administered to determine reliability, convergent validity, and explained variance. Reliability was determined using Cronbach's alpha. Convergent validity was measured using Spearman's correlation coefficients. Explained variance was interpreted using R-squared coefficients.

Results

All questionnaires can be considered reliable. The medical, psychological, and economic health state questionnaires show weak to moderate convergent validity with each other. The medical, psychological, and economic health state questionnaires also explain limited variance in each other's outcomes. The composite health state questionnaire shows moderate to strong convergent validity with the other health state questionnaires. The composite health state questionnaire further explains considerable variance in the outcomes of the other health state questionnaires.

Conclusion

Deploying divergent medical, psychological, and economic health state questionnaires may have added value as they provide a multiperspective holistic insight into patients' health states. Deploying the composite health state questionnaire combined with other health state questionnaires may have added value as it provides additional understanding of their outcomes. Deploying an independent psychological health state questionnaire may have added value as it shows particularly limited convergent validity and explained variance regarding other health state questionnaires.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Clinical Remission: What Should We Look For?

Background and Objectives: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic conditions with an unpredictable evolution that can have a negative impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL). Even though patients in remission have a better QoL compared to patients with active disease, they still have a lower QoL compared to healthy people. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that are associated with a lower QoL in patients with IBD in clinical remission, in a tertiary IBD center in Romania. Materials and Methods: Ninety-seven adult patients with a current diagnosis of IBD for over 3 months who were in clinical remission were enrolled in this study. Pregnant women, patients with ostomy, perianal disease, extraintestinal manifestations or other significant comorbidities were excluded. Out of the 97 patients, 63.9% were men. The median age was 39 years (IQR 29−47), and the median disease duration was 5 years (IQR 2−10). Disease activity was assessed using the SCCAI score for ulcerative colitis and HBI score for Crohn’s disease. Remission was defined for SCCAI score ≤ 1 and HBI score ≤ 4. The health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) was assessed using the IBDQ32 score. FACIT-Fatigue was used to evaluate the level of fatigue. Patients with symptoms of anxiety or depression were identified with the HADS score. Symptoms of anxiety were considered when HADS-A >7 points and symptoms of depression when HADS-D >7 points. Results: Sixty-five patients (67%) were diagnosed with CD and the remaining 32 (33%) with UC. Ninety-three patients (95.9%) were on biological therapy. The mean IBDQ score (total score) was 190.54 points (SD +/− 8.2). The mean FACIT Fatigue score was 42.5 (SD +/− 8.2), with 6.2% of patients suffering from severe fatigue (FACIT Fatigue < 30 points). A total of 33% of patients had symptoms of anxiety and 16.5% of depression. Exposure to more than one biologic therapy (p = 0.02), fatigue (p < 0.001) and symptoms of anxiety (p < 0.001) were associated with a lower HR-QoL in the multivariate analysis. Female patients, patients with Crohn’s disease, patients with anemia and patients with symptoms of depression also had a lower HR-QoL, but this did not reach statistical significance in our study. Conclusions: Exposure to a higher number of biological agents (patients that switched multiple biologics), the presence of fatigue and symptoms of anxiety impair the HR-QoL of patients with IBD in clinical remission. Further studies should assess in a prospective manner whether early identification of these factors with prompt clinical interventions could lead to a better HR-QoL in these patients.

Psychometric evaluation of an Italian custom 4-item short form of the PROMIS anxiety item bank in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: an item response theory analysis

Background

There has recently been growing interest in the roles of inflammation in contributing to the development of anxiety in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID). Patient-reported outcome measures can facilitate the assessment of physical and psychological functioning. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) is a set of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) that cover physical appearance, mental health, and social health. The PROMIS has been built through an Item Response Theory approach (IRT), a model-based measurement in which trait level estimates depend on both persons' responses and on the properties of the items that were administered. The aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of an Italian custom four-item Short Form of the PROMIS Anxiety item bank in a cohort of outpatients with IMIDs.

Methods

We selected four items from the Italian standard Short Form Anxiety 8a and administered them to consecutive outpatients affected by Inflammatory Bowel disease (n = 246), rheumatological (n = 100) and dermatological (n = 43) diseases, and healthy volunteers (n = 280). Data was analyzed through an Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis in order to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of the PROMIS anxiety short form.

Results

Taken together, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Factor analysis suggest that the unidimensionality assumption of the instrument holds. The instrument has excellent reliability from a Classical Theory of Test (CTT) standpoint (Cronbach's α = 0.93, McDonald's ω = 0.92). The 2PL Graded Response Model (GRM) model provided showed a better goodness of fit as compared to the 1PL GRM model, and local independence assumption appears to be met overall. We did not find signs of differential item functioning (DIF) for age and gender, but evidence for uniform (but not non-uniform) DIF was found in three out of four items for the patient vs. control group. Analysis of the test reliability curve suggested that the instrument is most reliable for higher levels of the latent trait of anxiety. The groups of patients exhibited higher levels of anxiety as compared to the control group (ps < 0.001, Bonferroni-corrected). The groups of patients were not different between themselves (p = 1, Bonferroni-corrected). T-scores based on estimated latent trait and raw scores were highly correlated (Pearson's r = 0.98) and led to similar results.

Discussion

The Italian custom four-item short form from the PROMIS anxiety form 8a shows acceptable psychometric properties both from a CTT and an IRT standpoint. The Test Reliability Curve shows that this instrument is mostly informative for people with higher levels of anxiety, making it particularly suitable for clinical populations such as IMID patients.

Factors associated with quality of care in inflammatory bowel diseases: a view from patient's side using the IQCARO quality of care decalogue

Background

Quality of care (QoC) is a highly important topic in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We recently elaborated a decalogue of QoC indicators (IQCARO-QoC) developed by IBD patients. The aim of the present study was to assess the factors associated with patients’ evaluation of QoC in Spain using the IQCARO-QoC Decalogue recently developed by IBD patients.

Methods

A survey including patients’ socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, and the IQCARO-QoC Decalogue, was completed by IBD patients. We described patients’ assessment of QoC across Spanish patients. A univariable and multivariable analysis was performed to explore the associations between patients’ characteristics and QoC.

Results

Questionnaires from 788 participant patients were analysed. Participants’ mean age was 43.4 years, 63% were females and 58% had Crohn’s disease. The mean QoC score was 8.1 (± 2.4 SD) points out of a maximum of 10. Items with the lowest score were related to the provision of information and the implication of the medical team throughout the entire patient care. Factors associated with better QoC scores included: being employed better disease control, fewer numbers of unscheduled visits, and being followed by a gastroenterologist specialized in IBD.

Conclusions

Spanish patients’ reported QoC seems to be globally good although there is room for improvement, especially in providing adequate information to patients. Care provided by specialized IBD gastroenterologists seems to be related with higher QoC scores.

Factors associated with quality of life in Italian children and adolescents with IBD

Improving the quality of life (QoL) is crucial in the management of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to (1) Validate the IMPACT-III questionnaire in Italian IBD children; (2) explore factors associated to QoL in pediatric IBD. Internal consistency, concurrent validity, discriminant validity and reproducibility of the Italian version of the IMPACT-III questionnaire was measured in IBD children/adolescents in 8 centers. Associations between patient and disease characteristics and the IMPACT-III domains were analyzed through quantile regression analysis. The IMPACT-III questionnaire, collected in 282 children with IBD (median age: 14.8 years; IQR 12.4–16.4) showed a median total score of 76 (IQR 67–83). Female gender, active disease and age were negatively associated with the total IMPACT-III score. Specifically, female gender was negatively associated with the Bowel/Systemic Symptoms, Emotional and Treatment domain scores, while disease activity was significantly associated with Bowel Symptoms and Treatment/Interventions reported QoL. The IMPACT- III showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = 0.87, 95% CI 0.85–0.89) and reproducibility (Concordance Correlation Coefficient = 0.66, 95% CI 0.57–0.74). In Italian children with IBD active disease, female gender and adolescence are associated to a worse QoL, indicating the need of more attention in this subgroup of young patients. IMPACT-III questionnaire is a reliable instrument to measure QoL in Italian children.

Patient Reported Outcomes in Chronic Inflammatory Diseases: Current State, Limitations and Perspectives

Chronic inflammatory diseases (CID) are emerging disorders which do not only affect specific organs with respective clinical symptoms but can also affect various aspects of life, such as emotional distress, anxiety, fatigue and quality of life. These facets of chronic disease are often not recognized in the therapy of CID patients. Furthermore, the symptoms and patient-reported outcomes often do not correlate well with the actual inflammatory burden. The discrepancy between patient-reported symptoms and objectively assessed disease activity can indeed be instructive for the treating physician to draw an integrative picture of an individual's disease course. This poses a challenge for the design of novel, more comprehensive disease assessments. In this mini-review, we report on the currently available patient-reported outcomes, the unmet needs in the field of chronic inflammatory diseases and the challenges of addressing these.

Switching From Reference Infliximab to Biosimilar CT-P13 Did Not Change Quality of Life in Stable Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Background

Quality of life (QoL) data for patients with inflammatory bowel disease switched from the reference infliximab to biosimilar CT-P13 is lacking. This study aims to demonstrate noninferiority for QoL and efficacy after switching.

Methods

OoL and clinical efficacy were measured prior to and after 2, 4, and 6 CT-P13 infusions.

Results

One hundred seventy-eight patients were included. Noninferiority was established for QoL [ratio 97.95% (95% confidence interval 95.93 to 100.01)] and efficacy [difference -0.02 (95% confidence interval -0.68 to 0.64)]. Five patients reported 6 nonrelated, serious adverse events.

Conclusions

Switching from reference infliximab to CT-P13 did not affect the QoL or disease activity and was well tolerated.

Second Mexican consensus on biologic therapy and small-molecule inhibitors in inflammatory bowel disease

INTRODUCTION

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and incurable entity. Therapy with anti-TNF-α agents was the first biologic therapy approved in Mexico for IBD. New biologic agents, such as vedolizumab and ustekinumab, have recently been added, as have small-molecule inhibitors.

AIM

To update the biologic therapeutic approach to IBD in Mexico with new anti-TNF-α agents and novel biologics whose mechanisms of action induce and maintain remission of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Mexican specialists in the areas of gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease were summoned to participate. The consensus was divided into 3 modules, with 49 statements. The Delphi method was applied, sending the statements to all participants to be analyzed and edited, before the face-to-face meeting. During said meeting, the clinical studies were shown, emphasizing the level of clinical evidence, and the final discussion and voting round on the level of agreement of all the statements was conducted.

RESULTS

In this second Mexican consensus, recommendations are made for new anti-TNF-α agents, such as golimumab, new biologics with other mechanisms of action, such as vedolizumab and ustekinumab, as well as for the small-molecule inhibitor, tofacitinib.

CONCLUSIONS

The updated recommendations focus on patient-reported outcomes, biologic therapy, small-molecule inhibitors, and the safety aspects of each of the drugs.

PLACEBO USE IN THE CONTEXT OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE CLINICAL TRIALS

Inflammatory bowel disease comprises two distinct conditions - Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis - which can be treated with immunomodulators. A non-neglectable proportion of these patients will need biologic therapy, and many patients under biologic treatment will experience either primary or secondary failure. As a consequence, clinical trials evaluating new therapeutic alternatives are being developed. These trials share common features, such as being controlled with placebo. Placebo use in clinical trials is a matter of intense debate. Those who support placebo use highlight the methodologic advantages placebo-controlled trials have. Those against placebo use argue that it would be against ethical principles in clinical research to expose a patient to placebo when a valid therapeutic alternative exists. In this review, we summarize the existing arguments for and against the use of placebo in the context of inflammatory bowel disease research. We finally suggest that it is very likely that in the near future inflammatory bowel disease trials will no longer be controlled with a placebo arm, but instead they will be non-inferiority trials with an active comparator.

Simplification of Validated Patient-Reported Outcome Instruments in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Objectives

Improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a major treatment goal for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Tools to measure HRQoL, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Short Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Questionnaire, are lengthy and rely on recall. This prospective, proof-of-concept pilot study assessed the feasibility, reliability, and validity of daily, simplified HRQoL and sleep quality data collection using mobile technologies in patients with IBD.

Methods

Adult IBD patients were recruited from our center. Daily HRQoL and sleep quality were assessed using visual analog scale (VAS) surveys, and pain was assessed using the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale (WBS). HRQoL and sleep were assessed on days 1, 14, and 28 of the study using the short IBD Questionnaire (SIBDQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Correlation between the daily instruments and the biweekly validated instruments were assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results

One hundred patients were enrolled. The correlation between mean global assessment VAS score over 2 weeks and PSQI score taken at 14 days was moderate (r = 0.62, P &lt; 0.0001). The correlation over the same time interval between mean WBS score and SIBDQ score was strong (r = −0.71, P &lt; 0.0001), and the correlation between mean sleep VAS score and PSQI score was moderate (r = −0.55, P &lt; 0.0001).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the potential for electronic quality of life, sleep quality, and pain assessments as feasible, reliable, and valid tools in IBD patients. Intermittent administration of these simplified electronic assessments may be useful in further reducing patient survey burden without significantly compromising their utility.

A Symptom Self-report Tool for Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBDnow)

OBJECTIVES

Clinical symptom evaluation for children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is typically done using composite tools: the Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) and Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index (PUCAI). Both rely on clinician interpretation of child or parent symptom recall. No universal self-report tool has yet been developed for children with IBD to assess and report their symptoms. The research objective was to develop a self-report tool that produced information congruent with that obtained by clinicians using the PUCAI or PCDAI.

METHODS

A children's symptom self-report tool (IBDnow) was developed with picture and text Likert symptom scales. The clinician and child completed their reports during the same outpatient consultation. Agreement levels were calculated at the individual level (identical child and clinician answers), category level (symptom severity), and aggregate level (cohort scores). Internal consistency was measured with Cronbach alpha.

RESULTS

One hundred children from Christchurch (New Zealand) (n = 65), and Sydney (Australia) (n = 35) completed the study (Crohn's Disease (CD):88, ulcerative colitis (UC):12), mean age 13.9 years (±3.6). Mean individual agreement was 0.76 (±0.19). Category severity had very good or good inter-rater reliability for 5 of the 7 symptom scales and overall severity agreement of 76%. Aggregate mean scores were significantly different between clinicians (14.9, ±18.8), and participants (21.6, ±19.4), (P <0.005, confidence interval -9.0, -4.4), but 60 pairs had scores within a 10% margin. Cronbach alpha was 0.74.

CONCLUSIONS

This self-report tool had good proportionate agreement between raters, and good crude agreement for symptom categories. Assigning PUCAI or PCDAI scores caused inter-rater discrepancies to be misleadingly magnified. Pediatric gastroenterologists may consider utilizing IBDnow to elicit symptom self-reports from children with IBD to enable them to communicate meaningful information on their ongoing symptom burden. This would be a positive step in helping children feel included in clinical encounters and promoting self-management, at the same time producing valid, subjective symptom recall.

Medical staff tend to underestimate the quality of life in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease

AIM

We evaluated how well medical staff or parents understood patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by comparing their evaluation of the patients' quality of life (QoL) with the patients' self-reported QoL.

METHODS

This study was carried out at Severance Children's Hospital in Seoul, Korea, in 2017. The children with IBD were recruited from August 2017 to December 2017, and they had a mean age of 16.4 (range 9.3-18.9) years. We asked the 64 children (38 boys), 58 mothers, 16 fathers, three physicians and one IBD nurse to answer the IMPACT-III questionnaire, which measures QoL, and compared the scores.

RESULTS

The intraclass correlation coefficient of the total IMPACT-III score was highest for the patient and their father (0.824) and then for the patient and their mother (0.689), physician (0.625) and IBD nurse (0.499). Parents and medical staff thought the patients' QoL was lower than the patients themselves. The differences in the IMPACT-III scores of the patients were -10.09 ± 17.86 for physicians, -9.87 ± 15.80 for mothers, -5.72 ± 17.04 for nurses and -3.81 ± 11.82 for fathers.

CONCLUSION

Parents and medical staff showed some correlation with the QoL documented by adolescent IBD patients, but tended to underestimate the levels.

Rapid Response to Vedolizumab Therapy in Biologic-Naive Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Vedolizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against α4β7 integrin, is used to treat adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). We investigated the time course of clinical response to vedolizumab in patients who were and were not previously treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists.

METHODS

We performed a post-hoc analysis of data from phase 3, randomized, controlled trials of vedolizumab vs placebo in adult patients with UC (N = 374) or CD (N = 784). We collected data on patient-reported symptoms (rectal bleeding and stool frequency for patients with UC, abdominal pain and loose stool frequency for patients with CD) reported at weeks 2, 4, and 6 of treatment. We reported mean percentage score changes from baseline and proportions of patients who achieved predefined scores. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with an early response (at week 2).

RESULTS

In patients with UC (overall or naive to TNF antagonist therapy), a significantly greater percentage of patients given vedolizumab achieved the predefined composite symptom score at weeks 2, 4, and 6 compared to those given placebo. In patients with CD who were naive to TNF antagonists, a significantly greater percentage of patients given vedolizumab achieved the predefined score at weeks 2 and 4 compared to those given placebo. Among patients with UC given vedolizumab, 19.1% (overall) and 22.3% (TNF antagonist naive) achieved a composite score of rectal bleeding of 0 and stool frequency ≤1 at week 2 compared to 10% (overall) and 6.6% (TNF antagonist naive) of those receiving placebo. Among TNF antagonist-naive patients with CD, 15.0% of those given vedolizumab achieved an average daily composite score of abdominal pain ≤1 and loose stool frequency ≤3 at week 2 (compared to 7.9% given placebo), and 23.8% of those given vedolizumab achieved these by week 4 (compared to 10.3% given placebo).

CONCLUSIONS

In a post-hoc analysis of data from phase 3 clinical trials, vedolizumab significantly improved patient-reported symptoms of UC and CD as early as week 2 of treatment, continuing through the first 6 weeks-especially when given as first-line biologic therapy. ClinicalTrials.gov no: NCT00783718, NCT00783692, NCT01224171.

The Association Between Sustained Poor Quality of Life and Future Opioid Use in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

BACKGROUND

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with poor quality of life and disability. The short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (SIBDQ) is validated to determine patients quality of life at single time points, or improvement over time. Few studies have evaluated if sustained poor quality of life is associated with future healthcare utilization patterns.

METHODS

We analyzed patients from a prospective IBD natural history registry with 4 consecutive years of follow-up. SIBDQ was measured at outpatient visits. Healthcare utilization data were temporally organized into a 2-year observation period, and 2-year follow-up period. Mean SIBDQ score <50 during the first 2 years was categorized as having "poor quality of life". Primary outcomes of interest were measures of unplanned healthcare utilization and opioid use.

RESULTS

From a total of 447 participants (56.1% female, 66.1% Crohn's disease, 34.9% ulcerative colitis), 215 (48.1%) were classified as having poor quality of life. Poor quality of life was significantly associated with Crohn's disease (P < 0.01), history of IBD related surgery, and tobacco use (all P < 0.01). In the follow-up period, the same patients with poor quality of life were more likely to have abnormal biomarkers of inflammation, more telephone calls and office visits, experience unplanned care, and be exposed to opiates (all P < 0.05). After multivariable analysis, poor quality of life remained an independent predictor of future opiate use (odds ratio: 2.2, P = 0.003) and decreased time to first opiate prescription (hazard ratio: 1.67, P = 0.019) in the follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS

IBD patients with sustained poor quality of life are at an increased risk of opiate use and decreased time to opiate exposure. Routine measurement of quality of life in the outpatient setting may provide insight into those at risk for narcotic use and healthcare utilization. 10.1093/ibd/izy040_video1izy040.video25791709872001.

Disability due to Inflammatory Bowel Disease Is Correlated with Drug Compliance, Disease Activity, and Quality of Life

Background/Aims

The inflammatory bowel disease disability index (IBD-DI) was recently developed for IBD to assess the functional consequences and disease burden. We applied the IBD-DI to a Korean population and identified predictive factors influencing IBD-related disability.

Methods

Between March and August 2015, 322 consecutive patients with IBD were prospectively recruited. Patients completed the IBD-DI questionnaire and Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis Questionnaire (CUCQ-8) for assessing quality of life. We examined the relationships between IBD-DI and disease activity or quality of life and analyzed predictive factors in Korean IBD patients.

Results

Enrolled patients completed both questionnaires. Total IBD-DI was correlated with CUCQ-8 scores in both ulcerative colitis (r=0.636, p<0.001) and Crohn’s disease (r=0.711, p<0.001). Total IBD-DI was also correlated with disease activity in both ulcerative colitis (r= −0.224, p=0.003) and Crohn’s disease (r= −0.307, p<0.001). Better drug compliance was associated with lower disability (p=0.001) and higher quality of life (p=0.003).

Conclusions

Disability from IBD was correlated with disease activity and poor quality of life. Better drug compliance was associated with lower disability and higher quality of life. Our findings indicate that physicians should emphasize the importance of medication compliance for IBD patients.

F-calprotectin and Blood Markers Correlate to Quality of Life in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to investigate predictors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with respect to changes in disease parameters over time in children with inflammatory bowel disease.

METHODS

This was a prospective longitudinal study examining the association between HRQoL (IMPACT III) and symptom scores (Pediatric Crohn Disease Activity Index, abbreviated Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index), fecal calprotectin measures and blood analyses (C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, orosomucoid, albumin, hemoglobin, and vitamin-D) in a cohort of 10- to 17-year-old patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Data were collected prospectively at 3-month intervals during a 2-year period. Associations were analyzed using linear mixed-effect models. Patients were divided into 2 groups, which received nonbiological oral treatment or biological parenteral treatment.

RESULTS

From 79 patients (39 Crohn disease/40 ulcerative colitis), representing a total of 43,132 days of observation, 572 IMPACT measurements were paired with variables. A decrease in the IMPACT III score was significantly associated with increased ulcerative colitis-symptom score in the biological group (P = 0.005), and a similar inverse tendency was found in the nonbiological group and for Crohn disease symptoms in both groups. We found in both treatment groups overall a significant (P < 0.05) inverse association between the IMPACT III and the levels of fecal calprotectin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and orosomucoid, whereas albumin, hemoglobin, and vitamin-D were directly significantly associated.

CONCLUSIONS

The IMPACT score, already known to correlate with disease activity, has now been shown to be associated with disease markers in feces and blood. This emphasizes that objective markers of disease activity indirectly can predict the patient's HRQoL.