Mortality in inflammatory bowel disease in the Netherlands 1991-2002: results of a population-based study: the IBD South-Limburg cohort.

Background: The aim was to evaluate overall and disease-specific mortality in a population-based inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohort in the Netherlands, as well as risk factors for mortality.

Methods: IBD patients diagnosed between 1 January 1991 and 1 January 2003 were included. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated overall and with regard to causes of death, gender, as well as age, phenotype, smoking status at diagnosis, and medication use.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease in South Limburg (the Netherlands) 1991-2002: Incidence, diagnostic delay, and seasonal variations in onset of symptoms.

Background And Aims: Increasing incidence in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has been suggested. Recent data on population based incidence rates within Europe are however scarce. Primary aim was to investigate prospectively the incidence of IBD within a well-defined geographical and administrative area of the Netherlands, the South Limburg IBD registry.

Effect of phenotype on health care costs in Crohn's disease: A European study using the Montreal classification.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract associated with life-long high health care costs. We aimed to determine the effect of disease phenotype on cost.

Methods: Clinical and economic data of a community-based CD cohort with 10-year follow-up were analyzed retrospectively in relation to Montreal classification phenotypes.

Treatment inferred disease severity in Crohn's disease: evidence for a European gradient of disease course.

Objective: Geographic differences in disease course of Crohn's disease (CD) might possibly be related to differences in genetic and environmental factors encountered in different parts of the world. The aim of this study was to assess differences in treatment regimens within a European cohort of CD patients as a reflection of disease course, and to identify associated phenotypic risk factors at diagnosis.

Material And Methods: A prospective European population-based inception cohort of 380 CD patients was studied.

Role of ASCA and the NOD2/CARD15 mutation Gly908Arg in predicting increased surgical costs in Crohn's disease patients: a project of the European Collaborative Study Group on Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: NOD2/CARD15, the first identified susceptibility gene in Crohn's disease (CD), is associated with ileal stenosis and increased frequency of surgery. Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibody (ASCA), a serological marker for CD, is associated with ileal location and a high likelihood for surgery. We hypothesized that the presence of ASCA and NOD2/CARD15 mutations could predict increased health care cost in CD.

Cost analysis and cost determinants in a European inflammatory bowel disease inception cohort with 10 years of follow-up evaluation.

Background & Aims: Economic analysis in chronic diseases is a prerequisite for planning a proper distribution of health care resources. We aimed to determine the cost of inflammatory bowel disease, a lifetime illness with considerable morbidity.

Methods: We studied 1321 patients from an inception cohort in 8 European countries and Israel over 10 years.

Disease outcome of inflammatory bowel disease patients: general outline of a Europe-wide population-based 10-year clinical follow-up study.

Objective: To give a general outline of a 10-year clinical follow-up study of a population-based European cohort of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and to present the first results in terms of clinical outcome parameters and risk factors.

Materials And Methods: A population-based cohort of newly, prospectively, diagnosed cases was initiated between 1991 and 1993. The 2201 patients with IBD (706 had Crohn's disease (CD), 1379 had ulcerative colitis (UC) and 116 had indeterminate colitis) originated from 20 different areas in 11 different European countries and Israel.

Internet-based data inclusion in a population-based European collaborative follow-up study of inflammatory bowel disease patients: description of methods used and analysis of factors influencing response rates.

Aim: To describe an Internet-based data acquisition facility for a European 10-year clinical follow-up study project of a population-based cohort of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and to investigate the influence of demographic and disease related patient characteristics on response rates.

Methods: Thirteen years ago, the European Collaborative study group of IBD (EC-IBD) initiated a population-based prospective inception cohort of 2 201 uniformly diagnosed IBD patients within 20 well-described geographical areas in 11 European countries and Israel. For the 10-year follow-up of this cohort, an electronic patient questionnaire (ePQ) and electronic physician per patient follow-up form (ePpPFU) were designed as two separate data collecting instruments and made available through an Internet-based website.