A focused retrospective study on differences in IBD characteristics between Black and White patients in the south

Most facets of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) have not been thoroughly compared among minority populations, including Black patients. Our study was designed to characterize the demographics, phenotypes, outcomes, healthcare utilization, and treatment of IBD in a large cohort with 38% Black patients.

Electronic health records of 3272 IBD patients seen in a tertiary academic medical network from 2012 to July 15th, 2019 were analyzed.

Black patients with Crohn's disease were significantly more likely than White patients to suffer from perianal (p < 0.001), fistulizing (p < 0.001), and fibrostenotic phenotypes (p < 0.001). Black patients with IBD were significantly more likely to undergo IBD-related surgery (p = 0.042) and experience an IBD-related complication (p < 0.001). The proportion of patients with at least one colonoscopy, one visit to the gastroenterology clinic, one visit to the emergency department (ED), and one hospital admission were higher in Black patients (p < 0.001, p = 0.005, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001; respectively).

Black IBD patients had more severe disease phenotypes and worse healthcare outcomes than White patients. Black patients also used healthcare facilities and IBD medications to an equal or greater extent, despite being of a lower average socioeconomic class than their White counterparts. Our study suggests that underlying factors that do not pertain to the utilization of healthcare resources may be responsible for these worse outcomes in Black patients.