Inflammatory bowel disease in Ireland : epidemiology of an Irish inception cohort - results from a perspective long-term follow-up study

Abstract

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD) constitute the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). They are chronic relapsing conditions of the gastrointestinal tract with occasional extra-gastrointestinal manifestations and complications. Patients may have symptoms for a few months and at times years before formal diagnosis can be made. The introduction of serological bio-markers with an emphasis on environmental factors may offer possible resolution ofthis conundrum by creating an outcome predictor matrix for differentiating IBD from non IBD inflammatory processes and to identify IBD subtypes. Such matrix will augment optimal IBD management for those patients who require it most, facilitating patient tailored therapy. Studies in this thesis resulted from a longitudinal follow up of an Irish IBD cohort that was part of a larger multicentre European Collaborative prospective population inception to study IBD (EC-IBD) in the early 1990s. This research aimed to evaluate IBD epidemiology, phenotypes, disease course, clinical outcomes and correlating that with the new serological anti glycan antibodies biomarkers.