Socio-demographic characteristics, features of the course and treatment of ulcerative colitis in the Nizhny Novgorod region

Abstract

The aim of the study was to describe the socio-demographic characteristics, features of the course and treatment of patients with ulcerative colitis. From March 2019 to March 2021, information was collected and systematized on patients over 18 years old in the Nizhny Novgorod region suffering from IBD. The registry included and analyzed 150 unique records of patients with ulcerative colitis. According to the analysis, the number of men and women with ulcerative colitis is comparable: men - 47.3% and 52.7%. The median age of all patients was 43.0 [19.0-83.0] years. Determination of a subjective assessment of the time of onset of the first symptoms found that the median age is 37.0 [14.7-83.2] years. The median duration of the disease at the time of inclusion in the study was 26.1 [3.4; 104.5] month. During the first year, it is possible to detect pathology in 85.3% of cases: for a period of less than 3 months in 63.3% of patients, within 3 to 6 months in 16.0%, in the period from 6- up to 12 months in 6.0%. Among the examined patients, the prevalence of total colitis was established - 54.6%; in second place - the leftside colitis - 34.0%, the least common was proctitis - 11.3%. According to our data, the “average patient” will be a woman or a man of average working age who seeks medical help in a timely manner, which allows a diagnosis to be made within the first 3 months from the onset of the first symptoms; however, despite such an optimistic start, in the vast majority of cases there is a total colitis and there is no adequate control over the disease - high activity of the disease (moderate attack) and a chronic recurrent course remain, which in turn leads to the appointment of repeated courses of corticosteroids and only in a quarter of cases, therapy is changed to genetically engineered biological agents.