COVID-19 in IBD: The experience of a single tertiary IBD center

• Published in: Digestive and liver disease 2021-03, Vol.53 (3), p.271-276
• Main Authors: Rizzello, Fernando, Calabrese, Carlo, Salice, Marco, Calandrini, Lucia, Privitera, Hana, Melotti, Laura, Peruzzi, Giulia, Dussias, Nikolas, Belluzzi, Andrea, Scaioli, Eleonora, Decorato, Anastasio, Siniscalchi, Antonio, Filippone, Eleonora, Laureti, Silvio, Rottoli, Matteo, Poggioli, Gilberto, Gionchetti, Paolo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alimentary Tract; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - therapeutic use; Biological Products - therapeutic use; Biological treatment; Colitis, Ulcerative - drug therapy; Colitis, Ulcerative - epidemiology; Colitis, Ulcerative - physiopathology; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - physiopathology; Crohn Disease - drug therapy; Crohn Disease - epidemiology; Crohn Disease - physiopathology; Deprescriptions; Female; Gastrointestinal Agents - therapeutic use; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; IBD; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - drug therapy; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - epidemiology; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - physiopathology; Italy - epidemiology; Male; Mesalamine - therapeutic use; Middle Aged; SARS-CoV-2; Sulfasalazine - therapeutic use; Tertiary Care Centers; Time-to-Treatment; Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1590-8658; 1878-3562
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dld.2020.12.012

Italy has been one of the most affected countries in the world by COVID-19. There has been increasing concern regarding the impact of COVID‐19 on patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly in patients treated with immunosuppressants or biologics. The aim of our study is to understand the incidence of COVID-19 in a large cohort of patients with IBD. Furthermore, we analyzed possible risk factors for infection and severity of COVID-19. This was an observational study evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on IBD patients in a single tertiary center. A 23 multiple-choice-question anonymous survey was administered to 1200 patients with IBD between March 10th and June 10th 2020. 1158 questionnaires were analyzed. The majority of patients had Crohn's disease (CD) (60%) and most of them were in clinical remission. Among the 26 patients (2.2%) who tested positive for COVID-19, only 5 (3CD) were on biological treatment and none required hospitalization. Two patients died and were on treatment with mesalazine only. Of the 1158 patients, 521 were on biological therapy, which was discontinued in 85 (16.3%) and delayed in 195 patients (37.4%). A worsening of IBD symptoms was observed in 200 patients on biological therapy (38.4%). Most of these patients, 189 (94.5%), had stopped or delayed biological treatment, while 11 (5.5%) had continued their therapy regularly (p