P386 Persistence of bowel urgency despite clinical remission after induction therapy is associated with unfavorable long-term outcomes in patients with ulcerative colitis: results from the multicenter UC-RGENCY study

Background STRIDE 2 recommendations define clinical remission as no rectal bleeding and normalization of stool frequency in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), without including bowel urgency (BU) despite its negative impact on quality of life. In this large multicenter cohort, we aimed to assess whether the persistence of BU after induction therapy is independently associated with poor long-term outcomes in patients with UC. Methods From a multicenter retrospective study, we included consecutive UC adult patients previously exposed to at least one anti-TNF agent, with partial Mayo score (pMS) > 2, who started biologics or small molecules between Jan2019 and June2022. BU was defined as a binary criterion based on the SCCAI definition. The primary endpoint was the time to drug discontinuation due to active UC. Secondary endpoints were time to relapse, time to colectomy as well as steroid-free clinical remission (pMS ≤ 2) (CFREM), endoscopic remission (CFREM + Mayo endoscopic score (MES) ≤ 1), and mucosal healing (CFREM + MES ≤ 1 + histological remission i.e. Nancy index ≤ 1) at last follow-up. Results Among 473 patients with UC, 270 were assessed for BU after induction therapy (week 16) (mean age 43.0±17.0 years-old, median UC duration 6 [3-11] years, female gender=54.0%, pancolitis=45.9%). The median follow-up was 14 [8-22] months. The rate of CFREM after induction therapy was 54.4% (147/270) while 21.5% (58/270) had remaining bowel urgencies after induction therapy. Among the 147 patients achieving remission after induction therapy, 12 had persistent BU (8.2%), while 62.6% (77/123) of patients with no CFREM after induction therapy did not have any BU. The agreements between BU and rectal bleeding (75.2%, κ-coefficient = 0.33±0.06) or normalization of stools frequency (67.9%,κ-coefficient = 0.35±0.05) were mild. Among the patients with persistent BU after induction therapy, only 3.7% had no endoscopic activity (MES = 0). In multivariable analyses including CFREM at week 16, persistence of BU after induction therapy was independently associated with the time to drug discontinuation (HR=2.0[1.1-3.5], p=0.016) and colectomy (HR=4.4[2.3-8.4], p<0.001), and absence of mucosal healing (OR = 5.0[1.1-24.8], p=0.046) at last follow-up. A trend was also observed regarding the association between remaining BU after induction therapy and no CFREM (OR=6.1[0.8-48.0], p=0.085) or absence of endoscopic remission (OR=2.4[0.9-6.1], p=0.077) at last follow-up. Conclusion Persistence of BU despite clinical remission is associated with higher risk of drug discontinuation due to active UC, colectomy and lower likelihood of mucosal healing. Bowel urgency should be implemented into international guidelines to define clinical remission in patients with UC.