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Background: Tofacitinib is a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC). ODEN is an ongoing Swedish multicentre prospective observational study regarding effectiveness of tofacitinib in UC. In this interim analysis, we aimed to assess the clinical outcomes during the first 16 weeks. Methods: Patients with active UC were enrolled 2020-2023 when starting tofacitinib as per clinical indication. Inclusion criteria were fecal (F) calprotectin >250 mg/kg or Mayo endoscopic score ≥2. Data were collected using an electronic case report form linked to the Swedish National Quality Registry for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SWIBREG). Data concerning inflammatory markers, endoscopic activity, partial (p) Mayo, extra intestinal manifestations, health-related quality of life measures, corticosteroid use, and colectomy rates were collected regardless of tofacitinib discontinuation. Information collected at week 8 and 16 is presented here. Intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis was applied and tofacitinib discontinuation was considered as treatment failure (i.e., no tofacitinib-induced clinical or laboratory response or remission). McNemar’s test was used for proportion differences. Results: The proportion of patients who previously had failed at least one biologic was 95% and at least two biologics, 62%. At inclusion, median p-Mayo was 5 and 39% of patients were on corticosteroids (Table 1a). Patients’ survival on drug is shown in Figure 1a. At week 8 and 16, 42% and 43%, respectively, achieved corticosteroid free clinical remission, Figure 1b. A 50% reduction in F-calprotectin was seen in 54% and 49% at week 8 and 16, respectively. The endpoint of Mayo endoscopic score 0 and/or F-calprotectin <100 mg/kg was achieved by 30% and 38% at week 8 and 16, respectively. Arthralgia frequency decreased significantly from baseline from 29% at inclusion to 13% and 11% at week 8 and 16 respectively. Three patients underwent colectomy the first

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) has a major impact on daily life. The Janus Kinas (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib is effective in achieving remission in UC, but prospective real-world evidence concerning the effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and fatigue are still scarce. Fatigue is a component of UC that is notoriously difficult to treat and not unambiguously related to inflammatory activity. ODEN is an ongoing Swedish multicentre prospective observational study of tofacitinib in UC. In this interim analysis, we assessed the effectiveness on HRQoL and fatigue during the first 16 weeks. Methods: Patients with UC and active inflammation were enrolled 2020-2023 when starting tofacitinib as per clinical indication. To measure various aspects of impairment of daily life, the validated questionnaires Short Health Scale (SHS), EQ-5D-5L [Swedish value set], and IBD-fatigue scale (IBD-F) were used. These data and information concerning clinical, biochemical, and endoscopic outcomes were collected in an e-CRF linked to the Swedish National Quality Registry for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SWIBREG). For HRQoL outcomes, per protocol analysis was applied. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test were used for mean and median differences, respectively. Results: In total, 103 patients were included. Baseline data are shown in Table 1a. For patients still on tofacitinib treatment, all four dimensions of the SHS (symptoms, social function, disease related worry, and general well-being) improved significantly, Table 1b. A median decrease of one point from baseline was seen at week 8 in each of the parameters, which was maintained through week 16 with a tendency towards further improvement. EQ-5D-5L showed an impairment mainly in the aspects of pain/discomfort and ability to participate in common daily activities. Improvement in these dimensions was seen from baseline to week 16. The overall EQ-5D-5L index improved significantly from baseline (0.80) to week 8 (0.86)

Background & Aims: Earlier studies have provided varying risk estimates for lymphoma in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but often have been limited by detection biases (especially during the first year of follow-up evaluation), misclassification, and small sample size; and rarely reflect modern-day management of IBD. Methods: We performed a binational register-based cohort study (Sweden and Denmark) from 1969 to 2019. We compared 164,716 patients with IBD with 1,639,027 matched general population reference individuals. Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for incident lymphoma by lymphoma subtype, excluding the first year of follow-up evaluation. Results: From 1969 to 2019, 258 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), 479 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 6675 matched reference individuals developed lymphoma. This corresponded to incidence rates of 35 (CD) and 34 (UC) per 100,000 person-years in IBD patients, compared with 28 and 33 per 100,000 person-years in their matched reference individuals. Although both CD (HR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.16–1.50) and UC (HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.00–1.20) were associated with an increase in lymphoma, the 10-year cumulative incidence difference was low even in CD patients (0.08%; 95% CI, 0.02–0.13). HRs have increased in the past 2 decades, corresponding to increasing use of immunomodulators and biologics during the same time period. HRs were increased for aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in CD and UC patients, and for T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in CD patients. Although the highest HRs were observed in patients exposed to combination therapy (immunomodulators and biologics) or second-line biologics, we also found increased HRs in patients naïve to such drugs. Conclusions: During the past 20 years, the risk of lymphomas have increased in CD, but not in UC, and were driven mainly by T-cell lymphomas and aggressive B-cell lymphomas.

Background and Aims: We aimed to compare the risk of frailty in older adults with incident inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and matched non-IBD comparators and assess the association between frailty and future hospitalizations and mortality. Methods: In a cohort of patients with incident IBD ≥60 years of age from 2007 to 2016 in Sweden identified using nationwide registers, we defined frailty using Hospital Frailty Risk Score. We compared prevalence of frailty in patients with IBD with age, sex, place of residency– and calendar year–matched population comparators. In the IBD cohort, we used Cox proportional hazards modeling to examine the associations between frailty risk and hospitalizations or mortality. Results: We identified 10,590 patients with IBD, 52% female with a mean age of 71 years of age, matched to 103,398 population-based comparators. Among patients with IBD, 39% had no risk for frailty, 49% had low risk for frailty, and 12% had higher risk for frailty. Mean Hospital Frailty Risk Score was 1.9 in IBD and 0.9 in matched comparators (P < .01). Older adults with IBD at higher risk for frailty had a 20% greater risk for mortality at 3 years compared with those who were not frail. Compared with nonfrail older patients with IBD, patients at higher risk for frailty had increased mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 3.22, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.86–3.61), all-cause hospitalization (HR, 2.42; 95% CI, 2.24–2.61), and IBD-related hospitalization (HR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.35–1.66). These associations were not attenuated after adjusting for comorbidities. Conclusions: Frailty is more prevalent in older adults with IBD than in matched comparators. Among older patients with IBD, frailty is associated with increased risk for hospitalizations and mortality.

Background: There are limited data on population-wide assessment of cost in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Aim: To estimate the societal cost of actively treated CD and UC in Sweden. Methods: We identified 10 117 prevalent CD and 19 762 prevalent UC patients, aged ≥18 years on 1 January 2014 and 4028 adult incident CD cases and 8659 adult incident UC cases (2010-2013) from Swedish Patient Register. Each case was matched to five population comparators. Healthcare costs were calculated from medications, outpatient visits, hospitalisations and surgery. Cost of productivity losses was derived from disability pension and sick leave. Results: The mean annual societal costs per working-age patient (18-64 years) with CD and UC were $22 813 (vs $7533 per comparator) and $14 136 (vs $7351 per comparator) respectively. In patients aged ≥65 years, the mean annual costs of CD and UC were $9726 and $8072 vs $3875 and $4016 per comparator respectively. The majority of cost for both CD (56%) and UC (59%) patients originated from productivity losses. Higher societal cost of working-age CD patients as compared to UC patients was related to greater utilisation of anti-TNF (22.2% vs 7.4%) and increased annual disability pension (44 days vs 25 days). Among incident CD and UC patients, the mean total cost over the first year per patient was over three times higher than comparators. Conclusion: In Sweden, the societal cost of incident and prevalent CD and UC patients was consistently two to three times higher than the general population.

Introduction: Whether data on International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-codes from the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR) correctly correspond to subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and phenotypes of the Montreal classification scheme among patients with prevalent disease is unknown. Materials and methods: We obtained information on IBD subtypes and phenotypes from the medical records of 1403 patients with known IBD who underwent biological treatment at ten Swedish hospitals and retrieved information on their IBD-associated diagnostic codes from the NPR. We used previously described algorithms to define IBD subtypes and phenotypes. Finally, we compared these register-generated subtypes and phenotypes with the corresponding information from the medical records and calculated positive predictive values (PPV) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Among patients with clinically confirmed disease and diagnostic listings of IBD in the NPR (N = 1401), the PPV was 97 (96–99)% for Crohn’s disease, 98 (97–100)% for ulcerative colitis, and 8 (4–11)% for IBD-unclassified. The overall accuracy for age at diagnosis was 95% (when defined as A1, A2, or A3). Examining the validity of codes representing disease phenotype, the PPV was 36 (32–40)% for colonic Crohn’s disease (L2), 61 (56–65)% for non-stricturing/non-penetrating Crohn’s disease behaviour (B1) and 83 (78–87)% for perianal disease. Correspondingly, the PPV was 80 (71–89)% for proctitis (E1)/left-sided colitis (E2) in ulcerative colitis. Conclusions: Among people with known IBD, the NPR is a reliable source of data to classify most subtypes of prevalent IBD, even though misclassification commonly occurred in Crohn’s disease location and behaviour and also among IBD-unclassified patients.

Background: Studies comparing drug survival in different anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) agents in IBD patients are scarce, especially for second-line anti-TNF agents. We aimed to (A) assess drug survival and predictors of response and adverse drug reactions to first-line anti-TNF treatment and (B) examine drug survival for individual anti-TNF agents when used as second-line anti-TNF. Methods: Well-characterised patients with IBD (n = 955) starting their first anti-TNF treatment between 2006 and 2016 (Table 1), were identified from the Swedish National Quality Registry for IBD (SWIBREG). Drug survival was examined, stratified by reason for discontinuation, that is, lack/loss of clinical effectiveness or adverse drug reactions. Multi-variable Cox regression models were used to identify predictors of drug survival. Drug survival for the second anti-TNF was assessed by type of first anti-TNF agent. Results: Risk factors at baseline for shorter drug survival, in patients with Crohn’s disease, were use of infliximab as first-line anti-TNF (compared with adalimumab, adjusted HR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.19‒3.18) (Figure 1A) and colonic disease (L2) (compared with ileal disease (L1) and ileocolonic disease (L3), adjusted HR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.25‒3.74). Consistently, Crohn’s disease patients who switched from adalimumab to infliximab had shorter drug survival, compared with those who switched from infliximab to adalimumab (Figure 1B). A normalisation of CRP level at 3 months was associated with decreased risk of short drug survival in both Crohn’s disease (adjusted HR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.19‒0.81) and ulcerative colitis (adjusted HR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.19‒0.86). In Crohn’s disease, but not in ulcerative colitis, immunomodulators were associated with a lower risk of short drug survival due to adverse drug reactions (adjusted HR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31‒0.82). Conclusions: Drug survival duration was longer for adalimumab compared with infliximab both when used as first anti-TNF agent a

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, inflammatory relapsing disease with increasing incidence. IBD research and long-term follow-up of patients have, however, been hampered by lack of detailed data on disease phenotype, patient-reported outcome measures, Physician Global Assessment, disease activity, and hospital-administered drugs. Aim: To review the Swedish IBD quality register (SWIBREG). Methods: Review of SWIBREG including questionnaire data from users and patients. Results: SWIBREG was launched in 2005, and as of April 2019, contains 46,400 patients with IBD (Crohn’s disease: n = 15,705, ulcerative colitis: n = 21,540, IBD unclassified and other colitis (including e.g., microscopic colitis): n = 9155). Of these IBD patients, 7778 had been diagnosed in childhood (16.8%). Earlier research has shown that combining SWIBREG and the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR) yields a positive predictive value of 100% (95%CI = 95–100%) for having a diagnosis of IBD. Moreover, out of all patients in the NPR with a diagnosis of IBD plus either IBD-related surgery or immunomodulatory/biological treatment during the past 18 months, SWIBREG covers 59.0%. SWIBREG records not only information on conventional therapies but also on biological treatment, surgery, smoking, disease activity, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), and patient-experienced measures (PREMs). Data are presented through a graphical decision support system. Conclusion: SWIBREG benefits patients with IBD, and offers an ideal opportunity for healthcare personnel and researchers to examine disease phenotype and activity, PROMs/PREMs, and hospital-administered drugs in patients with IBD.

Funding Agency:MSD

Bakgrund: Randomiserade kontrollerade prövningar har visat effekt av golimumab vid ulcerös kolit men studiedeltagare och förhållanden i kliniska prövningar motsvarar inte alltid svensk klinisk vardag. Syftet med denna studie var att utvärdera säkerhet och effekt av behandling med golimumab vid ulcerös kolit under svenska förhållanden. Metod: Detta är en prospektiv kohortstudie med inklusion av patienter från svenska sjukhus. Patienter med måttlig till svår aktiv ulcerös kolit, definierad som endoskopiskt Mayo score ≥2 och som påbörjade golimumab fr.o.m. 1/6-2014 inkluderades efter att informerat samtycke inhämtats. Kliniska karakteristika, behandling, klinisk-, biokemisk- och endoskopisk aktivitet liksom skattning av livskvalité samlades in vid inklusion samt prospektivt med hjälp av ett elektroniskt studieformulär, integrerat i svenska kvalitetsregistret för IBD (SWIBREG). Primärt effektmått var klinisk effekt vid 3 samt 12 månader (definierat som minskat Mayo score med ≥3 poäng eller 30 % från inklusion), samt klinisk remission (definierad som Mayo score ≤ 2 utan några enskilda poäng >1). Kontinuerliga data presenteras som median och kvartilavstånd. För statistisk jämförelse mellan inklusion och uppföljning användes Wilcoxon-signed rank test. Data från induktionsbehandling samt 3-månadersuppföljning presenteras här. Resultat: 50 patienter inkluderades t.o.m. 15/9-2017. Vid studiestart var 24/50 (48 %) samtidigt behandlade med immunmodulerare, 16/50 (32 %) med perorala kortikosteroider samt 27/50 (54 %) med 5-ASA. Totalt hade 35/50 (70 %) tidigare fått behandling med minst en TNF-hämmare (tabell 1). Efter 12 veckor hade 37/50 (74 %), fortfarande behandling med golimumab. Av de patienter som fortsatte med golimumab till vecka 12 var 8 (22 %) i klinisk remission och 13 (35 %) uppvisade klinisk respons. Totalt Mayo score minskade i median från 7 (6-10) vid inklusion till 5 (1-8) vid 12 veckor (p<0.01). Fekalt calprotektin minskade från 710 (275-1850) µg/g till 3

Funding Agency:Takeda

Microscopic colitis (MC) is an inflammatory bowel disease presenting with chronic, non-bloody watery diarrhoea and few or no endoscopic abnormalities. The histological examination reveals mainly two subtypes of MC, lymphocytic or collagenous colitis. Despite the fact that the incidence in MC has been rising over the last decades, research has been sparse and our knowledge about MC remains limited. Specialists in the field have initiated the European Microscopic Colitis Group (EMCG) with the primary goal to create awareness on MC. The EMCG is furthermore a forum with the intention to promote clinical and basic research. In this article statements and comments are given that all members of the EMCG have considered being of importance for a better understanding of MC. The paper focuses on the newest updates in epidemiology, symptoms and diagnostic criteria, pathophysiology and highlights some unsolved problems. Moreover, a new treatment algorithm is proposed on the basis of new evidence from well-designed, randomized control trials.