Treatment of Adult Patients with Moderate to Severely Active Ulcerative Colitis

Summary

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a lifelong condition causing relapsing bouts of intestinal inflammation characterised by  bloody diarrhoea with urgency and incontinence. Peak onset is in early adulthood. It has a major adverse impact  on health and quality of life, affecting education, employment, family life and relationships.    Despite advances in the treatment of UC, there are still some patients for whom current medications do not work  or stop working. Up to 20% of patients require major abdominal surgery to remove the colon for disease which is  unresponsive to treatment or where complications of UC such as bowel cancer have developed. A new medication  has been shown to reduce symptoms of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis in clinical trials. However,  research is needed to confirm these clinical trial findings in patients receiving care as part of routine clinical  practice in the UK.    In this study, we would like to evaluate how well this new medication works in adult patients who have been  diagnosed with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis and who have tried at least one prior medication  that did not work or stopped working.    The primary measure of the study will be to look at the number of patients remaining on the medication at 12  months after starting the medication. We will also review symptomatic remission, steroid‐free symptomatic  remission and bowel urgency improvement at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after starting the medication, as per standard  clinical practice.    The NIHR IBD BioResource offers a unique opportunity to study this medication in a large group of patients with  UC.    The proposed research will contribute to medical knowledge and improve healthcare practices, ultimately leading  to better outcomes and quality of life for patients living with UC.