Early Initiation of Biologics and Disease Outcomes in Adults and Children With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Results From the Epidemiology Group of the Nationwide Israeli Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Nucleus Cohort

BACKGROUND & AIMS

In this nationwide study, we explored whether early initiation of biologics is associated with improved outcomes in children and adults with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).

METHODS

All patients diagnosed with CD or UC in Israel (2005-2020) were included in the Epidemiology Group of the Israeli Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Nucleus cohort, encompassing 98% of the population. We compared disease duration at biologics initiation (ie, 0-3 months, >3-12 months, >1-2 years, and >2-3 years) using the cloning, censoring, and weighting by inverse probabilities method to emulate a target trial, adjusting for time-varying confounders and selection bias.

RESULTS

Of the 34,375 included patients (of whom 5240 [15%] were children), 7452 of 19,264 (39%) with CD and 2235 of 15,111 (15%) with UC received biologics. In CD, by 10 years postdiagnosis, the probability of CD-related surgery decreased gradually but modestly with earlier initiation of biologics; a significant difference was noted between >2-3 years (31%) and 0-3 months (18%; P = .02; number needed to treat, 7.7), whereas there was no difference between the 0-3-month and >3-12-month periods. The 10-year probability of steroid dependency for the 0-3-month period (19%) differed both from the >2-3-year (31%; P < .001) and 1-2-year periods (37%; P < .001). In UC, no significant differences in colectomy or steroid dependency rates were observed between the treatment initiation periods. Similar trends were noted in the pediatric population.

CONCLUSIONS

Very early initiation of biologics was not associated with some outcomes except for a modest risk reduction of surgery and steroid dependency for CD, which requires confirmation in future studies. In UC, early introduction of biologics was not associated with reduced risk of colectomy or steroid dependency.

Residence in Peripheral Regions and Low Socioeconomic Status Are Associated With Worse Outcomes of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Nationwide Study From the epi-IIRN

BACKGROUND

Timely access to quality medical care impacts patient outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In a nationwide study from the epidemiology group of the Israeli IBD research nucleus we aimed to assess the impact of residence and socioeconomic status (SES) on disease outcomes.

METHODS

We utilized data from the 4 health maintenance organizations in Israel, representing 98% of the population. Regions were defined as central, northern and southern; SES was graded from lowest to highest (from 1 to 4) as per Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. The primary outcome was steroid dependency, with secondary outcomes of surgeries and biologic therapy use.

RESULTS

A total of 28 216 IBD patients were included: 15 818 (56%) Crohn's disease (CD) and 12 398 (44%) ulcerative colitis; 74%, 12% and 14% resided in central, southern, and northern Israel, respectively (SES 1: 21%, SES 4: 12%). Lower SES was associated with steroid dependency (20% in SES 1 vs 12% in SES 4 in CD; P < .001; and 18% vs 12% in ulcerative colitis; P < .001), and higher surgery rates (12% vs 7%; P < .001, and 1.4% vs 0.7%; P = .115, respectively). There were higher steroid dependency and CD surgery rates in peripheral vs central regions. In multivariable models, both SES and peripheral region were independently associated with poorer outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that lower SES and peripheral residence were associated with deleterious outcomes in IBD. This should be considered by policymakers and should encourage strategies for improving outcomes in populations at risk.

Medical concept embedding of real-valued electronic health records with application to inflammatory bowel disease

Deep learning approaches are gradually being applied to electronic health record (EHR) data, but they fail to incorporate medical diagnosis codes and real-valued laboratory tests into a single input sequence for temporal modeling. Therefore, the modeling misses the existing medical interrelations among codes and lab test results that should be exploited to promote early disease detection. To find connections between past diagnoses, represented by medical codes, and real-valued laboratory tests, in order to exploit the full potential of the EHR in medical diagnosis, we present a novel method to embed the two sources of data into a recurrent neural network. Experimenting with a database of Crohn's disease (CD), a type of inflammatory bowel disease, patients and their controls (~1:2.2), we show that the introduction of lab test results improves the network's predictive performance more than the introduction of past diagnoses but also, surprisingly, more than when both are combined. In addition, using bootstrapping, we generalize the analysis of the imbalanced database to a medical condition that simulates real-life prevalence of a high-risk CD group of first-degree relatives with results that make our embedding method ready to screen this group in the population.

The association of Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Celiac Disease and Celiac Autoimmunity in children and adults: A nationwide study from the epi-IIRN

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Given the paucity of population-based data on the association between inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), celiac disease (CeD) and celiac autoimmunity (CeA) we aimed to study the associations in a nationwide study.

METHODS

Utilizing health administrative data for all four health maintenance organizations in Israel, covering 98% of the population, we explored the prevalence of CeD in children and adults with IBD versus non-IBD matched controls. CeD was defined by three ICD-9 codes and CeA by positivity for tissue transglutaminase antibodies.

RESULTS

In total, 34,375 IBD patients (56% Crohn's disease [CD] and 44% ulcerative colitis [UC]) were compared with 93,603 non-IBD controls. Among IBD patients, 319 (0.93%) had CeD versus 294 (0.31%) non-IBD controls (odds ratio [OR]=2.97 [95%CI 2.54-3.48]; p<0.001). CeA was identified in 575 (1.67%) IBD patients vs. 158 (0.17%) controls (OR=10.06 [95%CI 8.43-12], p<0.001). The prevalence of CeD was higher in pediatric-onset IBD (87/5,243 [1.66%]) than adult-onset IBD (232/29,132 [0.79%]; p<0.001). CD patients had a higher prevalence of CeD (229/19,264 [1.19%]) than UC patients (90/15,111 [0.56%]; OR=2.01 [95%CI 1.57-2.56]; p<0.001). The diagnosis of CeD preceded the diagnosis of IBD in 241/319 cases (76%). The time to treatment escalation was shorter in patients with both IBD and CeD than in patients with IBD without CeD (p=0.017).

CONCLUSION

CeD and CeA are more prevalent in IBD patients, especially in pediatric-onset IBD and in CD. The diagnosis of CeD usually precedes that of IBD. Having CeD is associated with more intensified treatment for IBD.

Barriers to completing colonoscopy after a positive fecal occult blood test

Background

Colorectal cancer leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Early detection and treatment are essential. Screening using fecal occult blood tests has increased significantly, but adherence to colonoscopy follow-up is suboptimal, increasing CRC mortality risk.

The aim of this study was to identify barriers to colonoscopy following a positive FOBT at the level of the patient, physician, organization and policymakers.

Methods

This mixed methods study was conducted at two health care organizations in Israel. The study included retrospective analyses of 45,281 50–74 year-old members with positive fecal immunochemical tests from 2010 to 2014, and a survey of 772 patients with a positive test during 2015, with and without follow-up. The qualitative part of the study included focus groups with primary physicians and gastroenterologists and in-depth interviews with opinion leaders in healthcare.

Results

Patient lack of comprehension regarding the test was the strongest predictor of non-adherence to follow-up. Older age, Arab ethnicity, and lower socio economic status significantly reduced adherence. We found no correlation with gender, marital status, patient activation, waiting time for appointments or distance from gastroenterology clinics. Primary care physicians underestimate non-adherence rates. They feel responsible for patient follow-up, but express lack of time and skills that will allow them to ensure adherence among their patients. Gastroenterologists do not consider fecal occult blood an effective tool for CRC detection, and believe that all patients should undergo colonoscopy. Opinion leaders in the healthcare field do not prioritize the issue of follow-up after a positive screening test for colorectal cancer, although they understand the importance.

Conclusions

We identified important barriers that need to be addressed to improve the effectiveness of the screening program. Targeted interventions for populations at risk for non-adherence, specifically for those with low literacy levels, and better explanation of the need for follow-up as a routine need to be set in place. Lack of agreement between screening recommendations and gastroenterologist opinion, and lack of awareness among healthcare authority figures negatively impact the screening program need to be addressed at the organizational and national level.

Trial registration

This study was approved by the IRB in both participating organizations (Meuhedet Health Care Institutional Review Board #02–2–5-15, Maccabi Healthcare Institutional Review Board BBI-0025-16). Participant consent was waived by both IRB’s.

The Association of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases with Autoimmune Disorders: A Report from the epi-IIRN

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

There are conflicting data on the association between inflammatory bowel diseases [IBD] and autoimmunity disorders. The aim of this study was to explore this association including the effect of medications.

METHODS

We utilized health administrative data collected by three of the four health maintenance organizations [HMOs] in Israel, covering 52% of the country's population. We explored the prevalence of the following autoimmune disorders: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [IDDM], psoriasis, Sjögren syndrome, coeliac disease, systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], primary sclerosis cholangitis [PSC] and autoimmune thyroiditis, among all IBD patients vs non-IBD controls. Case ascertainment was determined according to validated computerized algorithms.

RESULTS

In total, 12625 IBD patients were compared to 12625 controls. A total of 1395 [11.1%] IBD patients had at least one autoimmune disease compared with 740 [5.9%] of non-IBD controls (odds ratio [OR] = 1.99 [95% confidence interval 1.81-2.19]; p < 0.05); all autoimmune diseases, except for thyroiditis, were more prevalent among IBD patients. Adjusted for confounding variables, anti-tumour necrosis factor [anti-TNF] medications were associated with a higher prevalence of psoriasis (54 [5.7%] in IBD vs 177 [4.1%] in controls; OR = 1.50 [1.07-2.08]; p < 0.05) but lower prevalence of Sjögren (1 [0.1%] vs 39 [0.9%]; OR [95% CI] = 0.13 [0.02-0.94]; p < 0.05) and coeliac disease (11 [1.2%] vs 68 [1.6%]; OR [95% CI] = 0.51 [0.27-0.99]; p < 0.05). Thiopurines and 5-aminosalicylates were not associated with any autoimmune disorder.

CONCLUSION

IBD is associated with all autoimmune diseases explored here except for thyroiditis. Anti-TNF users have a higher prevalence of psoriasis, and lower prevalence of Sjögren and coeliac disease.

Development and validation of novel algorithms to identify patients with inflammatory bowel diseases in Israel: an epi-IIRN group study

Background

Before embarking on administrative research, validated case ascertainment algorithms must be developed. We aimed at developing algorithms for identifying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, date of disease onset, and IBD type (Crohn's disease [CD] vs ulcerative colitis [UC]) in the databases of the four Israeli Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) covering 98% of the population.

Methods

Algorithms were developed on 5,131 IBD patients and 2,072 controls, following independent chart review (60% CD and 39% UC). We reviewed 942 different combinations of clinical parameters aided by mathematical modeling. The algorithms were validated on an independent cohort of 160,000 random subjects.

Results

The combination of the following variables achieved the highest diagnostic accuracy: IBD-related codes, alone if more than five to six codes or combined with purchases of IBD-related medications (at least three purchases or ≥3 months from the first to last purchase) (sensitivity 89%, specificity 99%, positive predictive value [PPV] 92%, negative predictive value [NPV] 99%). A look-back period of 2-5 years (depending on the HMO) without IBD-related codes or medications best determined the date of diagnosis (sensitivity 83%, specificity 68%, PPV 82%, NPV 70%). IBD type was determined by the majority of CD/UC codes of the three recent contacts or the most recent when less than three contacts were recorded (sensitivity 92%, specificity 97%, PPV 97%, NPV 92%). Applying these algorithms, a total of 38,291 IBD patients were residing in Israel, corresponding to a prevalence rate of 459/100,000 (0.46%).

Conclusion

The application of the validated algorithms to Israel's administrative databases will now create a large and accurate ongoing population-based cohort of IBD patients for future administrative studies.