Genetic risk factors predict disease progression in Crohn's disease patients of the Swiss inflammatory bowel disease cohort.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) may progress from an inflammatory to a stricturing or penetrating disease phenotype. The aim of our study was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that predict disease progression in patients of the Swiss IBD Cohort Study (SIBDCS).

Methods: We applied a multi-state Markov model for progression behavior of CD with three behavioral states according to the Montreal classification.