Bowel Urgency Improvement Correlates With Clinical, Biochemical, and Intestinal Ultrasound Improvements in...

Bowel urgency (BU) is reported by over 80% of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 60% of those with Crohn's disease (CD). However, the impact of advanced therapies on BU has not been consistently evaluated.

To assess the effect of advanced therapies on BU improvement in patients with UC and CD.

This retrospective cohort study included all consecutive patients with confirmed UC or CD who started an advanced therapy with available data regarding BU before and after induction therapy between 2023 and 2024 at two tertiary centers. BU was assessed using the numeric-rating-scale urgency score (NRS-us), with BU defined as NRS-us ≥ 3. The primary endpoint was BU improvement (NRS-us ≤ 3 or reduction of at least two points) after the induction phase. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified factors associated with BU improvement.

A total of 159 patients were included (56% male; 65% UC; median age: 36 years (Interquartile range [IQR] 27-25)). TNFα inhibitors were the most frequently used agents (49.6%). At baseline, the median NRS-us was 7. After induction, 50.9% of patients achieved BU improvement, with a mean reduction of 2.3 ± 2.9 points. BU improvement was significantly associated with clinical remission (false-discovery-rate [FDR] = 0.009 in CD and FDR = 0.010 in UC), normalization of fecal calprotectin (FDR = 0.001), CRP (FDR = 0.008), and bowel wall thickness on intestinal ultrasound (FDR = 0.001). No significant differences were observed between therapeutic classes.

BU improved in approximately half of IBD patients following induction with advanced therapies. Its improvement correlated with clinical, biochemical, and ultrasound remission, supporting the incorporation of BU assessment into routine clinical monitoring.