Background Early treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with positive outcomes but a significant diagnostic delay has been reported in most countries. Aim We aimed to develop and validate IBD-REFER criteria, intended for primary care physicians, to screen patients at risk for IBD. Methods A Delphi group of 10 experts generated a list of symptoms associated with the onset of IBD, supplemented by a review of the literature. The list was reduced in an iterative process and graded based on importance. For data-driven statistical formatting, the charts of 200 IBD (100 children, 100 adults) and 100 non-IBD controls but with gastrointestinal symptoms were reviewed. The IBD-REFER items were scored for each subject, as well as the contending Red Flag criteria from the International Organization for the Study of IBD. External validation was performed on additionally enrolled cohorts of 100 IBD patients and 50 controls. Results The Delphi process retained 5 items as major criteria (≥1 item required for early referral) and 11 as minor (≥2 items required). Following the removal of uninformative items and further formatting in the data-driven stage, 10 core items were retained: 3 as major and 7 as minor. In the external validation, the final IBD-REFER criteria had a sensitivity/specificity of 98%/96% in adults and 96%/96% in children, significantly higher than achieved by the Red Flag criteria (71%/84% and 60%/88%, respectively; P < 0.001). Conclusion The IBD-REFER criteria may guide the selection of patients for expedited gastrointestinal investigation.
Objectives: In this quality improvement program, named quality in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease, we constructed a nation-wide platform that prospectively recorded clinically important quality indicators in pediatric inflammatory bowel diseases (PIBD), aiming at improving clinical management across the country. Methods: Representatives of all 21 PIBD facilities in Israel formed a Delphi group to select quality indicators (process and outcomes), recorded prospectively over 2 years in children with Crohn's disease 2-18 years of age seen in the outpatient clinics. Monthly anonymized reports were distributed to all centers, allowing comparison and improvement. Trends were analyzed using the Mann-Kendall test, reporting t (tau) values. Results: The indicators of 3254 visits from 1709 patients were recorded from September 2017 to September 2019 (mean age 14.7 AE 3.1 years, median disease duration 1.8 years (interquartile range 0.69-4.02)). An increase in three of five process indicators was demonstrated: obtaining drug levels of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (t ¼ 0.4; P ¼ 0.005), utilization of fecal calprotectin (t ¼ 0.38; P ¼ 0.008) and bone density testing (t ¼ 0.45; P ¼ 0.002). Among outcome indicators, three of nine improved as measured during the preceding year: calprotectin <300 mg/mg (t ¼ 0.35; P ¼ 0.015), and ''resolution of inflammation'' defined as a composite of endoscopy, imaging and fecal calprotectin (t ¼ 0.39; P ¼ 0.007). Endoscopic healing reached borderline significance (t ¼ 0.28; P ¼ 0.055). An increase in the use of biologics throughout the study was observed (t ¼ 0.47; P ¼ 0.001) with a concurrent decrease in the use of immunomodulators (t ¼ À0.47; P ¼ 0.001). Conclusions: Quality improvement nationwide programs can be implemented with limited resources while facilitating standardization of care, and may be associated with improvements in measured indicators.
As part of the development of the TUMMY-UC, a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure for pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC), we aimed to explore agreement on UC symptoms between children and their caregivers. We conducted 44 interviews with children ages 8–12 years, who completed the PRO version of the TUMMY-UC, and their caregivers, who completed the observer-reported outcome (obsRO) version. There was excellent agreement between the total TUMMY-UC PRO and obsRO scores (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.92 [95% confidence interval 0.74–0.98]). The obsRO scores were always within the same disease-activity category as the corresponding PRO score (ie, remission, mild and moderate-severe disease). There was a strong correlation of the TUMMY-UC PRO and obsRO scores with physician global assessment of disease activity (r = 0.94 and r = 0.90, respectively, P < 0.001) and the pediatric UC activity index (r = 0.95 and r = 0.96; P < 0.001). These data support conceptual equivalence between the PRO and obsRO TUMMY-UC versions, and provide support for their incorporation into one score.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.