Dataset Information

Gastroenterologists' Perceptions Regarding Ulcerative Colitis and Its Management: Results from a Large-Scale Survey.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Misperceptions about ulcerative colitis (UC) may influence management strategies and limit opportunities for improving patient outcomes. This study assessed physicians' perceptions of UC, concepts of disease severity and remission, and treatment goals.

Methods

Gastroenterologists who typically treated ≥10 adults with UC per month were recruited for a large-scale, web-based survey. Participants were asked about their perceptions of UC (often vs. Crohn's disease [CD]), treatment goals, and medication use. Response data were evaluated via descriptive statistics and univariate and multivariable analyses.

Results

Gastroenterologists (N = 500) with a mean of 16.5 years (standard deviation, 8.7 years) in practice participated. In comparison to CD, survey respondents perceived UC as being easier to diagnose, having better treatment outcomes, and being associated with later prescribing of biologics. Treatment goals commonly considered to have the greatest importance included quality of life improvement (31.2% of respondents), maintenance of clinical remission (17.4%), and mucosal healing (17.4%). When respondents evaluated the performance of medication classes in achieving these goals, biologics were rated significantly higher than all other classes (P < 0.05). However, the most common drivers for the initiation of biologic therapy were the development of steroid refractoriness (66.8%) and steroid dependency (65.8%). Medication class use by UC severity was generally consistent with the traditional step-up approach to UC therapy, with biologics being used most commonly for severe UC.

Conclusion

These results suggest a possible disparity between treatment goals and therapeutic management in UC. An increased awareness of general UC perceptions is an important step toward a better overall understanding of the disease and, ultimately, toward improved management aligned with treatment goals.

Funding

This study was sponsored by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), and the design and conduct of the study as well as article processing charges and the open access fee for this publication were funded by Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (TPI).

SUBMITTER: Lasch K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5055568 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background: Patients suffering from primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) often also have ulcerative colitis (UC). Cross-disease genetic and microbiome studies across PSC und UC patients indicated that UC in PSC is a separate disease entity from primary UC, but expression studies for PSC are lacking. In this study, we performed a molecular comparison of whole blood expression levels in PSC only, PSC patients with additional UC diagnosis (PSC/UC), and UC, using a large collection of whole blood transcriptome data. Methods: We conducted whole blood RNA-Seq experiments for 495 UC patients, 220 PSC patients (of whom 177 have also a UC diagnosis), and 320 healthy controls from Germany and Norway. Differential expression analyses, gene ontology and coexpression analyses and random forest machine learning were performed to identify genes, ontologies and transcriptional features that discriminate diagnoses. Results: The blood transcriptome in UC and PSC is dominated by neutrophil activation genes. In UC, but not in PSC (neither PSC alone nor PSC/UC), there is upregulation of genes for ribosomes, mitochondria and energy metabolism genes in conjunction with antibody transcript expression. In PSC, there is an increase in modules related to apoptosis and expression of genes of interferon-I-related ontologies. Random forest analysis could poorly discriminate PSC alone from PSC/UC (AUROC 0.56), but could discriminate PSC, UC, and controls with high accuracy (AUROC UC vs controls 0.95, PSC vs controls 0.88, UC vs PSC 0.986). The main coexpression modules are enriched in neutrophil degranulation and antibody production genes relevant for distinguishing PSC, UC, and controls. Conclusions: PSC and UC share neutrophil-related transcriptional upregulation in whole blood (e.g. S100A12). UC is characterised by upregulation of modules involved in antibody production (MZB1, IGJ) and increased metabolic activity (PDK4, ribosomal genes), while PSC differs from UC by interferon (IFIT1) and apoptosis upregulation (G0S2). Supported by machine learning results, PSC and UC are interpreted as molecularly separate entities, while PSC/UC and PSC are indistinguishable.