Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis may be grouped with Crohn’s disease within IBD, but in many ways, they are very different conditions. This section of the Knowledge Centre describes the epidemiology and pathophysiology of ulcerative colitis, providing an overview of disease presentation and management.
In This Section
Epidemiology
What are the causes of ulcerative colitis and how many people does it affect? Within this section of the Knowledge Centre you can gain insights into the prevalence and incidence of ulcerative colitis as well as the factors that underlie the condition.
Prevalence and incidence
Ulcerative colitis is more a common presentation of IBD than Crohn’s disease (Feuerstein and Cheifitz, 2014). As with Crohn’s disease, a systematic review revealed that, worldwide, the prevalence of ulcerative colitis is highest in Europe and North America (Figure 6). The countries with the highest reported prevalence in each region were Norway and the United States, with 505 and 286 cases per 100,000 individuals, respectively (Ng et al., 2017).
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Pathophysiology
What is the underlying pathophysiology of ulcerative colitis and how does it differ to Crohn’s disease? Within this section, you can gain an overview of the pathophysiology of ulcerative colitis, its presentation and disease management.
Pathogenesis
The general principles of the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis are similar to those described for Crohn’s disease. However, there are also some important differences (Ungaro et al., 2017).
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Ulcerative Colitis References
Epidemiology
Adams SM, Bornemann PH. Ulcerative colitis. Am Fam Physician. 2013;87:699–705.
Danese S, Fiocchi C. Ulcerative colitis. N Engl J Med. 2011;365:1713–25.
Feuerstein JD, Cheifetz AS. Ulcerative colitis: epidemiology, diagnosis, and management. Mayo Clin Proc. 2014;89:1553–63.
Garcia Rodriguez LA, Ruigomez A, Panes J. Acute gastroenteritis is followed by an increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology. 2006;130:1588–94.
Ng SC, Shi HY, Hamidi N, Underwood FE, Tang W, Benchimol EI, et al. Worldwide incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in the 21st century: a systematic review of population-based studies. Lancet. 2017;390:2769–78.
Noor SO, Ridgway K, Scovell L, Kemsley EK, Lund EK, Jamieson C, et al. Ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel patients exhibit distinct abnormalities of the gut microbiota. BMC Gastroenterol. 2010;10:134.
Ordás I, Eckmann L, Talamini M, Baumgart DC, Sandborn WJ. Ulcerative colitis. Lancet. 2012;380:1606–19.
Porter CK, Tribble DR, Aliaga PA, Halvorson HA, Riddle MS. Infectious gastroenteritis and risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology. 2008 Sep;135(3):781-6. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2008.05.081. Epub 2008 Jun 5.
Ungaro R, Mehandru S, Allen PB, Peyrin-Biroulet L, Colombel JF. Ulcerative colitis. Lancet. 2017;389:1756–70.
Varela E, Manichanh C, Gallart M, Torrejón A, Borruel N, Casellas F, et al. Colonisation by Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and maintenance of clinical remission in patients with ulcerative colitis. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2013l;38:151–61.
Wehkamp J, Götz M, Herrlinger K, Steurer W, Stange EF. Inflammatory bowel disease. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113:72–82.
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Zhou M, He J, Shen Y, Zhang C, Wang J, Chen Y. New frontiers in genetics, gut microbiota, and immunity: A Rosetta Stone for the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Biomed Res Int. 2017;2017;8201672.
Pathophysiology
Abraham C, Cho JH. Inflammatory bowel disease. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:2066–78.
Danese S, Fiocchi C. Ulcerative colitis. N Engl J Med. 2011;365:1713–25.
Feuerstein JD, Cheifetz AS. Ulcerative colitis: epidemiology, diagnosis, and management. Mayo Clin Proc. 2014;89:1553–63.
Matricon J, Barnich N, Ardid D. Immunopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Self Nonself. 2010;1:299–309.
Molnar T, Annaházi A. Pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease: similarities, differences and a lot of things we do not know yet. J Clin Cell Immunol. 2014;5:253–268.
Neurath MF. Cytokines in inflammatory bowel disease. Nat Rev Immunol. 2014;14:329–42.
Ordás I, Eckmann L, Talamini M, Baumgart DC, Sandborn WJ. Ulcerative colitis. Lancet. 2012;380:1606–19.
Silverberg MS, Satsangi J, Ahmad T, Arnott ID, Bernstein CN, Brant SR, et al. Toward an integrated clinical, molecular and serological classification of inflammatory bowel disease: report of a Working Party of the 2005 Montreal World Congress of Gastroenterology. Can J Gastroenterol. 2005;19 Suppl A:5A–36A.
Ungaro R, Mehandru S, Allen PB, Peyrin-Biroulet L, Colombel JF. Ulcerative colitis. Lancet. 2017;389:1756–70.
Wehkamp J, Götz M, Herrlinger K, Steurer W, Stange EF. Inflammatory bowel disease. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113:72–82.