Genotype Prevalence of Lactose Deficiency, Vitamin D Deficiency, and the Vitamin D Receptor in a Chilean Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort: Insights from an Observational Study

Lactose intolerance (LI) and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) have been linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We conducted an observational study in 192 Chilean IBD patients to investigate the prevalence of a specific gene variant (LCT-13910 CC genotype) associated with LI and the prevalence of VDD/Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) gene variants. Blood samples were analyzed using Illumina's Infinium Global Screening Array. The LCT-13910 CC genotype was found in 61% of IBD patients, similar to Chilean Hispanic controls and lower than Chilean Amerindian controls. The frequency of the LCT-13910-C allele in Chilean IBD patients (0.79) was comparable to the general population and higher than Europeans (0.49). Regarding VDR and VDD variants, in our study, the rs12785878-GG variant was associated with an increased risk of IBD (OR = 2.64, CI = 1.61-4.32; p-value = 0.001). Sixty-one percent of the Chilean IBD cohort have a genetic predisposition to lactose malabsorption, and a significant proportion exhibit genetic variants associated with VDD/VDR. Screening for LI and VDD is crucial in this Latin American IBD population.

Ethnicity influences phenotype and clinical outcomes: Comparing a South American with a North American inflammatory bowel disease cohort

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD), has emerged as a global disease with an increasing incidence in developing and newly industrialized regions such as South America. This global rise offers the opportunity to explore the differences and similarities in disease presentation and outcomes across different genetic backgrounds and geographic locations. Our study includes 265 IBD patients. We performed an exploratory analysis of the databases of Chilean and North American IBD patients to compare the clinical phenotypes between the cohorts. We employed an unsupervised machine-learning approach using principal component analysis, uniform manifold approximation, and projection, among others, for each disease. Finally, we predicted the cohort (North American vs Chilean) using a random forest. Several unsupervised machine learning methods have separated the 2 main groups, supporting the differences between North American and Chilean patients with each disease. The variables that explained the loadings of the clinical metadata on the principal components were related to the therapies and disease extension/location at diagnosis. Our random forest models were trained for cohort classification based on clinical characteristics, obtaining high accuracy (0.86 = UC; 0.79 = CD). Similarly, variables related to therapy and disease extension/location had a high Gini index. Similarly, univariate analysis showed a later CD age at diagnosis in Chilean IBD patients (37 vs 24; P = .005). Our study suggests a clinical difference between North American and Chilean IBD patients: later CD age at diagnosis with a predominantly less aggressive phenotype (39% vs 54% B1) and more limited disease, despite fewer biological therapies being used in Chile for both diseases.

[Experience of continuing online education in gastroenterology for non specialist medical doctors]

BACKGROUND

Continuing education is essential for health professions and online courses can be a good way for professional development.

AIM

To describe the experience with online courses for continuing education in hepatology and gastroenterology and to analyze their educational impact.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A three years' experience in courses on liver diseases and digestive tract is described. Their curricular design, methodology, and the educational impact was analyzed using the four levels of the Kirkpatrick's model.

RESULTS

On average, there were 321 students per course (2015-2017). 94% were Chilean and 6% from abroad (20 countries). In the educational impact analysis, in level 1 "reaction": 93% said that the course fulfilled their expectations and 92% would recommend it. In level 2 "learning": 42% approved the courses. Level 3 "behavior" was not evaluated and level 4 "organizational change" highlighted that the traditional face-to-face continuing education model of Chilean Gastroenterology Society (SChG) changed to full distance model in these three courses, with 1284 students from South America, Asia and Europe, in a 3-years-period. Additionally, these programs were included in the Medical Society of Santiago (SMS) continuing education agenda.

CONCLUSIONS

The alliance between the SMS and the SChG generated on line courses that meet the educational needs of physicians and medical students, with excellent results and student perception.