Anemia in inflammatory bowel disease course is associated with patients' worse outcome

Background: Purpose: Anemia affects the life quality of inflammatory bowel dis-ease (IBD) patients, but no report from Asian about anemia screening and its impact previously. We aimed to explore the prevalence and impact of anemia among the IBD patients in Taiwan.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from January 2006 to February 2018 at National Taiwan University Hospital. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were analyzed.Results: A total of 1604 IBD patients were enrolled [494 Crohn's disease (CD) and 1110 ulcer-ative colitis (UC)]. Overall, 95.3% (471/494) of CD and 87.9% (976/1110) of UC patients under-went anemia screening. Anemia screening rate in IBD patients significantly increased from 62.6% (162/259) in 2006 to 77.2% (838/1086) in 2017. The mean time from IBD diagnosis to ane-mia screening was 122.4 days in CD patients and even longer in UC patients at 216.2 days. Persistent anemia was found in 47.3% (548/1158) of the screened patients. Risk factors of persistent anemia included low body mass index [odds ratio (OR) = 1.96, p < 0.01], steroid [OR = 2.96, p < 0.01], thiopurine [OR = 2.62, p < 0.01], colectomy [OR = 6.3, p < 0.01], and small bowel resection [OR = 3.21, p < 0.05)] after IBD diagnosis. Compared with those without anemia, anemic IBD patients had higher admission (p < 0.01) and mortality rates (p < 0.01).Conclusion: The anemia screening rate was acceptable and increased over time in Taiwan. Since anemia is associated with worse outcomes, earlier survey and treatment of anemia in IBD patients is recommended.Copyright 2022, Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study found that the screening rate for anemia in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients in Taiwan has increased over the years. Anemia is associated with worse outcomes, and early investigation and treatment of anemia in IBD patients are recommended.