Over the past 20 or so years, there has been a widely effective new treatment for those with Crohn’s or Colitis. Enter the drug class of biologics. These immune suppressing medications, given intravenously, have changed the lives of so many with IBD for the better. Many IBD patients have been able to experience lesser symptoms, and even go into remission with the help of biologics.
There have been several biologics released in those twenty or so years, each becoming more specific to the disease it is fighting. With this advancement in medicine, scientists and doctors have started to see a trend. They noticed that people with Ulcerative Colitis, who use biologics to treat it, have less of a chance of needing a colectomy compared to those that don’t. This comes as welcome news to many fighting UC, myself included.
According to George Khoudari, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University, prevalence of colectomy decreased from 10.8% in 2000 to 2.1% in 2019. This is an almost 8% drop! We simultaneously see the use of biologics increase from 0.5% in 2000, to 12.8% in 2019. They came about this information by using certified electronic health records from 26 major US healthcare systems. Overall, there were 46,430 people diagnosed with UC in these health systems. Of these, 15,020 or about 10.2% had a colectomy. 10,050 or about 6.8% were treated with biologics.
With this data an almost 53% reduction was seen from 200-1019 in colectomies in those with UC being treated with biologics. “The treatment for ulcerative colitis disease has changed significantly over the past 20 years with biologics being initiated early,” Khoudari said to the press. “We observed a falling trend of colectomy prevalence that coincides with a rising trend of biologics utilization…and may suggest that biologic therapy may be playing a role in the decreasing prevalence of colectomy over the years.”
Science and medicine are always evolving, but this information is a promising spot light in a dark world of those suffering with a chronic illness. Just think about how much further the advancements in care we will be in twenty more years. Don’t give up, don’t lose hope, keep fighting!
Want to see the full study? Check it out HERE!
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