American Journal of Gastroenterology最新文献

Introduction: Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy may improve insulin sensitivity, and its impact during pregnancy remains unclear. We aimed to assess the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) associated with anti-TNF treatment among pregnant women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: This nationwide cohort study included patients with IBD in Korea from 2010 to 2021. Anti-TNF exposure was identified from the last menstrual period (LMP) to LMP + 140 days. The development of GDM was assessed from LMP + 141 days to delivery. We performed overlap weighting to balance the covariates and used a generalized linear mixed model to measure the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The anti-TNF group was compared with the unexposed group, as well as with the immunosuppressant, 5-aminosalicylate, and untreated groups.

Results: A total of 3,695 pregnancies in women with IBD were identified, of which 338 (9.2%) were exposed to anti-TNFs. GDM was found in 7.1% of the pregnancies exposed to anti-TNFs as compared with 11.0% of those unexposed. The crude and weighted RRs for GDM risk were 0.64 (95% CI 0.43-0.96) and 0.68 (95% CI 0.55-0.84), respectively. The weighted RR when compared with the immunosuppressant, 5-aminosalicylate, and untreated groups was 0.70 (95% CI 0.41-1.18), 0.71 (95% CI 0.52-0.95), and 0.85 (95% CI 0.59-1.24), respectively.

Discussion: This nationwide cohort reported a decreased risk of GDM among patients who used anti-TNFs during early pregnancy compared with those unexposed. GDM risk may become a consideration in the decision-making process when choosing treatment options for pregnant women with a risk factor for GDM.

Introduction: Endoscopy, standard-of-care for monitoring eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), assesses mucosal inflammation. The Esophageal String Test (EST), a minimally invasive swallowed capsule and immunoassays, quantifies EoE inflammation. We determined whether the EST/EoEScore can monitor disease in patients undergoing treatment.

Methods: Thirty-three samples from 14 patients with EoE (7 children, 7 adults) who underwent repeat endoscopies and ESTs were studied. Biopsies were analyzed for peak eosinophil counts; ESTs were analyzed for EoEScores.

Results: Eosinophil counts and EoEScores significantly correlated during treatment, distinguishing patients with active EoE from treatment-associated remissions for 93.9% of ESTs performed.

Discussion: The EST can be used to longitudinally monitor responses to treatment in EoE.

Introduction: Crohn's disease (CD) varies by location, potentially affecting therapy efficacy and surgery risk, although research on this topic is conflicting. This study aims to investigate the independent association between CD location and therapeutic patterns.

Methods: We analyzed patients with CD diagnosed from January 2005 to May 2023 registered in the nationwide ENEIDA registry. A univariate Cox regression analysis assessed the association of disease location with biologic use and persistence (with treatment discontinuation as a failure event), as well as the use of intestinal resections. A multivariate model was constructed to evaluate the independent association of disease location with therapeutic patterns, controlling for potential confounders such as sex, age at inclusion and diagnosis, disease duration and behavior, previous surgery or biological therapy, extraintestinal manifestations, and perianal disease.

Results: The study included 17,292 patients with a median follow-up period of 6 years (interquartile range 2-10 years). Ileocolonic location was associated with a higher biologic use than colonic location (hazard ratio [HR] 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22-1.38) and ileal disease (HR 1.21, 95% CI 1.16-1.27), independently predicting biologic use (P < 0.001). Ileal location was associated with a lower biologic persistence than ileocolonic location (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.07-1.21) and colonic disease (HR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.20), independently predicting biologic persistence (P = 0.019). Ileal disease was associated with a higher likelihood of intestinal resections than colonic (HR 2.82, 95% CI 2.45-3.25) and ileocolonic location (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.05-1.22), independently predicting the use of surgery (P < 0.001).

Discussion: CD location with ileal predominance is associated with a distinct therapeutic pattern, including higher biologic use, lower treatment persistence, and increased rates of intestinal resections.

Introduction: To review the efficacy of various dietary interventions for induction of clinical remission in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and provide healthcare providers with a practical reference for recommending suitable diets for managing patients with IBD.

Methods: PubMed, Medline(R), and Cochrane were searched from inception up to February 17, 2023, to identify all studies reporting information on using diet to treat IBD. Studies investigating the role of dietary interventions in adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of active IBD for improvement or remission of IBD symptoms were rigorously considered. Sample meal plans, with a list of included and excluded foods, were also generated to provide clinicians with practical tools for advising patients on dietary intake.

Results: Eleven included studies provided data on 10 distinct diets: autoimmune protocol diet, high-fiber diet, 4-strategies-to-SUlfide-Reduction diet, highly restricted diet, McMaster elimination diet for Crohn's disease, specific carbohydrate diet, Mediterranean diet, Crohn's disease exclusion diet, individualized elimination diet, and the food-specific IgG4-guided exclusion diet. A total of 9 studies provided data on clinical remission. Many of these diets share common elements, such as an initial elimination phase with subsequent reintroduction of dietary components, inclusion of whole foods, and exclusion of highly or ultraprocessed foods.

Discussion: Currently, there is limited evidence to support the use of specific diets to treat adult patients with mildly to moderately active IBD. Larger, randomized studies with standardized methodologies and outcome measures, rigorous adherence assessment, and an emphasis on endoscopic assessment outcome measures are required to validate most diets that have been studied for IBD. The included sample diet plans and dietary recommendations may prove helpful in the interim as part of a holistic strategy to manage patients with IBD.

Introduction: Stool characteristics may change depending on the endoscopic activity of ulcerative colitis (UC). We developed a deep learning model using stool photographs of patients with UC (DLSUC) to predict endoscopic mucosal inflammation.

Methods: This was a prospective multicenter study conducted in 6 tertiary referral hospitals. Patients scheduled to undergo endoscopy for mucosal inflammation monitoring were asked to take photographs of their stool using smartphones within 1 week before the day of endoscopy. DLSUC was developed using 2,161 stool pictures from 306 patients and tested on 1,047 stool images from 126 patients. The UC endoscopic index of severity was used to define endoscopic activity. The performance of DLSUC in endoscopic activity prediction was compared with that of fecal calprotectin (Fcal).

Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of DLSUC for predicting endoscopic activity was 0.801 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.717-0.873), which was not statistically different from the AUC of Fcal (0.837 [95% CI, 0.767-0.899, DeLong P = 0.458]). When rectal-sparing cases (23/126, 18.2%) were excluded, the AUC of DLSUC increased to 0.849 (95% CI, 0.760-0.919). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of DLSUC in predicting endoscopic activity were 0.746, 0.662, and 0.877 in all patients and 0.845, 0.745, and 0.958 in patients without rectal sparing, respectively. Active patients classified by DLSUC were more likely to experience disease relapse during a median 8-month follow-up (log-rank test, P = 0.002).

Discussion: DLSUC demonstrated a good discriminating power similar to that of Fcal in predicting endoscopic activity with improved accuracy in patients without rectal sparing. This study implies that stool photographs are a useful monitoring tool for typical UC.

Obesity and associated insulin resistance induce a chronic metaboinflammatory state that lead to injury and dysfunction of multiple organs resulting in a cluster of noncommunicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a histologically active form of MASLD and characterized by greater injury and inflammation and progresses to cirrhosis with greater certainty than steatosis alone. The progression to cirrhosis is characterized by increasing fibrosis. The goal of treatment of MASLD/MASH was to improve the metaboinflammatory state i.e., the root cause of the liver disease and to prevent fibrosis progression to cirrhosis whereas in those who already have cirrhosis need additional care to prevent portal hypertension-related outcomes. Fibrosis regression is thus a key objective of treatment. The recent approval of resmetirom for MASH with fibrosis and the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists for obesity and type 2 diabetes has increased awareness of these NCDs and resulted in the growing demand for liver assessment and care in obese individuals. Patients with MASLD also have multiple metabolic comorbidities which represent competing threats to life, and the care of the patient requires both assessment of the totality of the risk and a more holistic approach integrating the care of all of the threats to life. Here, we provide a pragmatic and easily implementable risk-based approach to the evaluation and management of MASLD.