Young age and short duration of the disease are associated with more frequent relapses in inflammatory bowel disease patients.

Aims: To evaluate the effects of the clinical predictors such as age, duration of disease, sex, and smoking on the frequency of relapses in IBD patients.

Methods: This study recruited 289 IBD (133 with CD and 156 with UC) patients. All were followed-up for 36 months for relapses of the disease. We defined as frequently relapsing (≥1/year) patients with at least one relapse per year and as infrequently relapsing those with less than one relapse per year (<1/year). We assessed the effect of the clinical predictors: age, duration of disease, sex, and smoking on the frequency of relapses in IBD patients.

Results: Sixty-four (48.1%) of the CD patients were frequently relapsing and 69 (51.9%) were infrequently relapsing. There was a significant association between the age and the frequency of relapse (p=0.001; OR 0.964; 95% CI 0.941-0.987, p=0.002) and between the duration of the disease and frequency of relapse (p<0.001; OR 0.740, 95% CI 0.655-0.837, p<0.001). Seventy-two (46.2%) of the UC patients were frequently relapsing and 84 (53.8%) were infrequently relapsing. There was a significant association between the age and the frequency of relapse (p=0.001; OR 0.964, 95% CI 0.941-0.987, p=0.002) and between the duration of the disease and frequency of relapse (p<0.001; OR 0.740, 95% CI 0.655-0.837, p<0.001).

Conclusion: We demonstrate in a relatively significant cohort of IBD patients that young age and short duration of the disease are associated with more frequent relapses.