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Background Long-term clinical data on intestinal Behçet’s disease (BD) are scarce because of the rarity of this disease, and many issues remain unresolved due to the difficulty in performing a well-designed clinical trial or epidemiologic study. We aimed to investigate the long-term clinical outcomes of patients with intestinal BD with a 30-year cohort study at a tertiary hospital in South Korea, a hospital with the largest number of patients with intestinal BD worldwide. Additionally, we aimed to identify factors that could predict various clinical outcomes, including anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF-α) agent use, intestinal surgery, hospitalization, and emergency room visits. Methods A cohort of 780 patients with intestinal BD between 1997 and 2021 was investigated to determine the long-term clinical outcomes and prognostic factors at the inflammatory bowel disease Clinic of Severance Hospital, Seoul, Korea. Results During the median follow-up period of 12.7 ± 7.2 years, 5-aminosalicylic acids, corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) agents were required in 94.9%, 67.2%, 43.8%, and 14.6% of the patients, respectively. The cumulative rates of anti-TNF-α use were 3.7%, 7.5%, 8.5%, 12.1%, 17.6%, and 24.0%, and that of abdominal surgery were 5.7%, 10.9%, 12.6%, 16.5%, 21.6%, and 28.3%, at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively, after the initial diagnosis of intestinal BD. The cumulative rates of hospitalization were 11.8%, 21.9%, 27.9%, 38.8%, 54.4%, and 74.8% and that of emergency room visits were 10.0%, 19.8%, 22.7%, 31.6%, 50.0%, and 65.0% at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 years. Older age at primary diagnosis, previous appendectomy history, higher disease activity index for intestinal Behçet’s disease score, systemic BD, multiple intestinal ulcers, deep intestinal ulcers, higher C-reactive protein, lower hemoglobin, and lower albumin levels were associated with poor prognosis. Married status, higher body mass index, oral ulceration, and arthritis were negatively associated with a poor prognosis. Conclusion The data on the long-term clinical outcomes of intestinal BD and their prognostic factors could guide physicians for adequate patient monitoring and optimizing individualized treatments.

Background Increased prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been reported; however, the effects of NAFLD on the outcome of IBD remains unclear. We investigated whether the presence of NAFLD could influence the outcomes of patients with IBD. Methods We recruited 3,356 eligible patients with IBD into our study between November 2005 and November 2020. Hepatic steatosis and fibrosis were diagnosed using hepatic steatosis index (HSI) of ≥30 and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) of ≥1.45, respectively. Primary outcome was clinical relapse, defined based on the following: IBD-related admission, surgery, or first use of corticosteroids, immunomodulators, or biologics agents for IBD. Results Prevalence of NAFLD in patients with IBD was 16.7%. Patients with hepatic steatosis and advanced fibrosis were older, had a higher body mass index, and were more likely to have diabetes (all p0.05). Conclusion Hepatic steatosis was independently associated with increased risks of clinical relapse in patients with UC and CD, whereas fibrotic burden in the liver was not. Future studies should investigate whether the assessment and therapeutic intervention of NAFLD will improve clinical outcomes of patients with IBD.

Background The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are used as a diagnostic marker, disease activity marker, and prognostic marker in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. We aimed to investigate the NLR and PLR as a marker of inflammation and prognostic biomarker in intestinal Behçet’s disease (BD). Methods A total of 1712 diagnostic tests with 621 intestinal BD patients who underwent both blood examination and endoscopic examination at the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic of Severance Hospital, Seoul, Korea between March 2005 to November 2020 were analyzed in our study. We analyzed to identify the independent risk factors of the clinical remission (CR) and endoscopic remission (ER). Moreover, for 435 patients who underwent a series of blood and endoscopic examination, we performed Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analyses to identify the NLR and PLR as a marker of prognosis in intestinal BD. Results The NLR levels were higher in non-CR group compared to CR group (3.3±2.7 vs. 2.0±1.2, p Conclusion The NLR and PLR were higher in patients with active intestinal BD compared to those with inactive intestinal BD. And the NLR and PLR showed a promising role as marker for prediction of disease prognosis. Therefore, the NLR and PLR might be effective, readily available, and low-cost biomarkers for inflammation in intestinal BD patients.