Fecal calprotectin and lactoferrin determination may be useful in predicting impending clinical relapse-especially during the following 3 months-in both CD and UC patients.

The treatment with thiopurines and anti-TNF-α drugs does not seem to increase the risk of complications during pregnancy and does seem to be safe for the newborn.

Oral iron treatment is effective and well tolerated in most IBD patients, and does not exacerbate the symptoms of the underlying IBD. Intravenous iron, on the other hand, is an effective and safe alternative treatment for iron deficiency anemia in more severely anemic or intolerant patients. Anemia correction with iron treatment is associated with a relevant improvement in the patients' quality of life.

The incidence rate of inflammatory bowel disease relapse after anti-TNF discontinuation is relevant. Some predictive factors of relapse after anti-TNF withdrawal have been identified. Retreatment with the same anti-TNF drug was effective and safe.

In this "real-life" cohort of UC patients on maintenance treatment with adalimumab, anti-TNF-naïve patients had significantly better long-term outcomes. Adalimumab dose escalation enabled recovery of response in nearly half of patients.

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Background Ustekinumab has shown promising results in ulcerative colitis (UC) in the development program (UNIFI) that should be confirmed in clinical practice. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab in UC in real life. Methods Patients included in the prospectively maintained ENEIDA registry that received at least 1 dose of ustekinumab intravenously due to active UC were included. Clinical activity and effectiveness were defined based on Partial Mayo Score (PMS). The short-term response was assessed at week 8 and 16. The last-observation-carried-forward method was used in patients that stopped ustekinumab treatment before week 8 or 16. Variables associated with short-term remission were identified by logistic regression analysis. Data quality was assessed by remote monitoring. Results Forty-seven patients were included (Table 1); all of them had been previously exposed to biologic agents (70% to >2): 100% to anti-TNF and 83% to vedolizumab. A total of 26% had been exposed to tofacitinib. Seventeen patients (36%) had response at week 8 [3 of them (6%) had remission]; 16 patients (34%) had response at week 16 [5 of them (11%) had remission] (Figure 1). There was a statistically significant decrease in C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration during the induction only in patients with a response at week 16 (Figure 2). The proportion of patients with CRP elevated at baseline and at week 8 was higher among non-responders at week 16 (Table 2). In the multivariate analysis, higher PMS at week 8 [odds ratio (OR) = 0.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.3–0.9)] and CRP over the upper normal limit at week 8 (OR = 0.1; 95% CI = 0.01–0.8) were associated with lower probability of response at week 16; steroids during induction increased the probability of response at week 16 (OR = 8; 95% CI = 1–71). Of patients without response at week 8, only 7% achieved response at week 16. Seventeen out of 31 patients continued ustekinumab beyond week 16, despite being non-responders. Of these 17 patients, 4 reached remission after the third dose, 1 after the fifth and 1 after the seventh one. There were 2 infections, one of them with fatal consequences (in a patient under steroids and tacrolimus due to renal transplant). Conclusion Ustekinumab shows benefit in some UC patients in real practice, even in a very refractory cohort in which the drug was prescribed as last resort. Patient status at week 8 seems to be a good predictor of response after the induction. Safety was consistent with the known profile of ustekinumab.