Prognosis
Complications of Crohn's disease vs. ulcerative colitis
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Crohn's disease | Ulcerative colitis | ||
| Nutrient deficiency | Higher risk | ||
| Colon cancer risk | Slight | Considerable | |
| Prevalence of extraintestinal complications |
|||
| Iritis/uveitis | Females | 2.2% | 3.2% |
| Males | 1.3% | 0.9% | |
| Primary sclerosing cholangitis |
Females | 0.3% | 1% |
| Males | 0.4% | 3% | |
| Ankylosing spondylitis |
Females | 0.7% | 0.8% |
| Males | 2.7% | 1.5% | |
| Pyoderma gangrenosum |
Females | 1.2% | 0.8% |
| Males | 1.3% | 0.7% | |
| Erythema nodosum | Females | 1.9% | 2% |
| Males | 0.6% | 0.7% | |
While IBD can limit quality of life because of pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and other socially unacceptable symptoms, it is rarely fatal on its own. Fatalities due to complications such as toxic megacolon, bowel perforation and surgical complications are also rare.
While patients of IBD do have an increased risk of colorectal cancer, this is usually caught much earlier than the general population in routine surveillance of the colon by colonoscopy, and therefore patients are much more likely to survive.
New evidence suggests that patients with IBD may have an elevated risk of endothelial dysfunction and coronary artery disease.
A recent literature review by Gandhi et al. described that IBD patients over the age of 65 and females are at increased risk of coronary artery disease despite the lack of traditional risk factors.
The goal of treatment is toward achieving remission, after which the patient is usually switched to a lighter drug with fewer potential side effects. Every so often, an acute resurgence of the original symptoms may appear; this is known as a "flare-up". Depending on the circumstances, it may go away on its own or require medication. The time between flare-ups may be anywhere from weeks to years, and varies wildly between patients - a few have never experienced a flare-up.
Read more about this topic: Inflammatory Bowel Disease