Background The diagnostic delay in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is well known, yet the costs associated with diagnoses before IBD diagnosis have not yet been reported. This study explored societal costs and disease diagnoses 10 years before Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) diagnosis in Denmark. Methods This national register study included patients diagnosed between 2003 and 2015 identified in the Danish National Patient Registry (NPR) and controls who were individually matched on age and sex from the general population. Societal costs included health care services, prescription medicine, home care services, and labor productivity loss. Prediagnostic hospital contact occurring before CD or UC diagnosis was identified using the NPR. Average annual costs per individual were calculated before the patient’s first CD or UC diagnosis. A 1-sample t test was then applied to determine significance in differences between cases and controls. Results Among CD (n = 9019) and UC patients (n = 20,913) the average societal costs were higher throughout the entire 10-year period before the diagnosis date compared with the general population. The difference increased over time and equaled €404 for CD patients and €516 for UC patients 10 years before diagnosis and €3377 and €2960, respectively, in the year before diagnosis. Crohn’s disease and UC patients had significantly more diagnoses before their CD and UC diagnosis compared with the general population. Conclusions Compared with the general population, the societal costs and number of additional diagnoses among CD and UC patients were substantially higher in the 10-year period before diagnosis.

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Objective: There is little information on cost-of-illness among patients diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in Denmark. The objective of this study was to estimate the average 5year societal costs attributable to CD or UC patients in Denmark with incidence in 2003-2015, including costs related to health care, prescription medicine, home care and production loss. Materials and methods: A national register-based, cost-of-illness study was conducted using an incidence-based approach to estimate societal costs. Incident patients with CD or UC were identified in the National Patient Registry and matched with a non-IBD control from the general population on age and sex. Attributable costs were estimated applying a difference-indifference approach, where the total costs among individuals in the control group were subtracted from the total costs among patients. Results: CD and UC incidence fluctuated but was approximately 14 and 31 per 100,000 person years, respectively. The average attributable costs were highest the first year after diagnosis, with costs equalling e12,919 per CD patient and e6,501 per UC patient. Hospital admission accounted for 36% in the CD population and 31% in the UC population, the first year after diagnosis. Production loss exceeded all other costs the third-year after diagnosis (CD population: 52%; UC population: 83%). Conclusions: We found that the societal costs attributable to incident CD and UC patients are substantial compared with the general population, primarily consisting of hospital admission costs and production loss. Appropriate treatment at the right time may be beneficial from a societal perspective.

Background Extraintestinal manifestations (EIM) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be a frequent complication to an underlying abnormal immune response. This study investigated the occurrence of EIMs in Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) patients using population-based data in Denmark from 2003-2016. Methods In this national registry-based study, incident CD and UC patients between 2003-2015 were matched on age and gender with non-IBD controls and followed until 2016. The selected EIMs for this study included 51 different diagnoses divided into biological systems of diseases, which were tested for differences in the timing and occurrence of EIMs. Results The study cohort included 10,302 patients with CD and 22,144 patients with UC. The highest risk of patients experiencing EIM/comorbidities for the first time before their IBD diagnosis was in the Skin and intestinal tract systems. For CD, the odds ratio of having an EIM before or after IBD diagnosis, as compared with controls, was significant in the skin, intestinal tract, hepato-pancreatobiliary, musculoskeletal, ocular, renal and respiratory systems. For UC, the risks were similar before and after UC diagnosis, apart from the nervous system where the odds ratio was significantly higher before the diagnosis of UC, and significantly lower after diagnosis for diseases in the ocular system. Conclusions EIMs in CD and UC patients may also precede their IBD diagnosis. These findings may indicate a significant diagnostic delay of CD and UC, and the occurrence of known EIMs should prompt physicians to look for patients possibly having underlying IBD.