Overall and Cause-specific Mortality in Korean Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Hospital-based Cohort Study.

Background and Aim Limited data are available regarding mortality from inflammatory bowel disease in non-Caucasian populations. Herein, we evaluated overall and cause-specific mortality in a hospital-based cohort of Korean inflammatory bowel disease patients. Methods We determined mortality in 2,414 Crohn's disease patients and 2,798 ulcerative colitis patients diagnosed between 1977 and 2013. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated in several demographic and phenotypic subgroups. Results During the mean 9-year follow-up, 114 patients died: 35 with Crohn's disease and 79 with ulcerative colitis. The overall standardized mortality ratios were 1.40 (95% confidence interval: 0.97–1.94) in Crohn's disease and 0.73 (0.58–0.91) in ulcerative colitis. In Crohn's disease, female sex, age 10 years, ileocolonic disease at diagnosis, perianal fistula, intestinal resection, and ever-use of corticosteroids were associated with higher mortality. In ulcerative colitis, male sex, age ≥30 years at diagnosis, disease duration ≤5 years, proctitis at diagnosis, and no history of colectomy were associated with lower mortality, while primary sclerosing cholangitis was associated with higher mortality. In both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, high mortality rates due to non-malignant gastrointestinal causes (standardized mortality ratios: 4.59 and 2.32, respectively) and gastrointestinal malignancies (standardized mortality ratios: 16.59 and 3.45, respectively) were observed. Cardiovascular mortality was lower in ulcerative colitis (standardized mortality ratio: 0.47). Conclusions The overall mortality tended to be higher in Crohn's disease patients than in the general population; it was slightly lower in ulcerative colitis patients than in the general population.