Clinical features of inflammatory bowel disease combined with severe complications: a retrospective study of hospitalized patients

Background The population characteristics of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in China are different from those of western countries, and this population lacks large sample clinical data. This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of inpatients with severe complications of IBD in our center. Methods In this study, medical records of 510 hospitalized IBD patients (excluding pediatrics) were included, digestive tract perforation, massive digestive tract hemorrhage, thrombosis, toxic megacolon, digestive tract fistula, digestive tract stenosis, severe malnutrition, severe infection, and carcinogenesis were defined as severe complications. The clinical process and follow-up were retrospectively analyzed. Results The incidence of severe complications in patients with IBD was 39.02%, 71.31%, 23.81% and 50.68% for CD, UC and IBDU, respectively, and the incidence of severe complications in CD was significantly higher than that in UC (P<0.005). The cumulative incidence of serious complications in IBD patients with the course of 0-10 years was 36.99%, which was significantly lower than 48.35% of the course of >10 years (χ2=4.054, P=0.044). The incidence of carcinogenesis in UC patients with the course of 0-10 years was 1.56%, which was significantly lower than 8.47% of UC patients with the course of >10 years (P<0.01). The incidence of severe complications of UC patients with onset age ≥50 years old was 37.18%, which was significantly higher than 19.00% of that with onset age 20-49 years (P=0.001). The surgical rate of IBD patients was 10.39%, the surgical rate of CD patients was 27.87%, which was significantly higher than 5.08% of UC patients and 4.11% of IBDU patients (P<0.001), and the mortality rate of IBD patients was 1.57%, that of CD and UC was 3.28% and 1.27%, respectively. Conclusions Compared with western countries, IBD patients in China have similar incidence of severe complications, but the surgical rate was lower and the prognosis was better. The onset age ≥50 years old may be an independent risk factor for severe complications of UC patients, and the disease course of > for 10 years is an independent risk factor for carcinogenesis of UC patients.