Assessment of Treatment in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients Using Steroid Assessment Tool (SAT) in a Tertiary Center from Romania

Abstract

Background and aims: The evolution of inflammatory bowel diseases was significantly improved during the last decade by the new therapeutic options. Classical medications as corticosteroids and 5-aminosalycilates (5-ASA) are still highly used. In order to evaluate the pattern of corticosteroid usage we used a dedicated online tool-the steroid assessment tool. Our purpose was to evaluate if this tool can permit a change in the therapeutic habits and an improvement of quality of care. We succeeded to outline a therapeutic profile for a series of IBD patients in a tertiary centre from Romania. Methods: Two consecutive assessments were made using an online tool named Steroid Assessment Tool (SAT). Corticosteroid pattern of use and all previous and current treatments were registered and analyzed. Also the epidemiological and clinical data were collected and analyzed. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS® software. Results: Results showed that most of our IBD patients (90%) had been treated with 5-ASA, with 29.2% of CD patients and 54.3% of UC patients currently using 5-ASA. Also, we had more CD patients (78%) than UC patients (56.5%) treated with anti-TNF inhibitors. The rate of thiopurine use was small (2.3%) and of anti-integrin therapy, interleukin 12/23 inhibitors as well. The rate of corticosteroid use was 34% in 2019 and in 2020 it dropped to 25% while the rate of corticosteroid excess was 20.4% in 2019 with a statistically significant decrease in 2020 (p=0,01) when it was 5.95%. Discussion: We managed to draw a therapeutic profile of IBD patients in a tertiary IBD centre from Romania using an online tool named SAT. We noticed that the majority of patients were treated with 5-ASA. Even though 5-ASA are not recommended by recent therapeutic guidelines as treatment for CD, we have 29.2% of CD patients treated with this class of drugs, a rate smaller than other reports but still outside guidelines. In the same time, we have a higher rate of anti-TNF agents use compared to other studies, but a lower rate of thiopurine use. Corticosteroid use was higher the other reports, but we succeeded to lower the rate of corticosteroid use and the rate of corticosteroid excess.Conclusions: The therapeutic profile and habits of prescription in a tertiary IBD centre were analyzed twice using an easy-to-use online tool. The results obtained in our first evaluation led to a change in the therapeutic management, improving our adherence to guideline’s recommendations.