Ulcerative colitis is a long-term and immune-related chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects rectum and colon in varying lenghts. Although the exact cause is not known,
studies show that its development is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. It is recognized by bloody stools with liquid consistency, increased frequency of bowel
movements, urgent defecations, pain in the lower abdomen or even a fever. The total Mayo score is used to assess the activity of ulcerative colitis, which is based on the endoscopic Mayo score, the patient's signs and symptoms, and the physician's global assessment. The most widespread and specific methods of diagnosing ulcerative colitis is and endoscopic examination. Histological examination or determination of fecal calprotectin values from
stool sample can also be performed. The goal of ulcerative colitis treatment is to achieve deep remission. Drugs from 5-aminosalicylates group and corticosteroids are used to induce remission, while 5-aminosalicylates, thiopurines and target drugs are intended to maintain remission. Due to the loss of clinical response of approved target drugs, there remains an ongoing need for new targeted drugs for ulcerative colitis treatment. Data on their efficacy
and safety are obtained from randomized clinical trials, but the results of these could be potentially biased by the selection of the ideal study population, which is determined by the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study protocol. As a result, the effectiveness of new target drugs on the clinical population is questionable, as this is often excluded from clinical studies due to other associated diseases, polypharmacy, unstable drug doses or inadequate
treatment time interval, older patients, etc.
The purpose of the master's thesis was to investigate the proportion of patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis who would meet the conditions for inclusion in selected clinical
studies of targeted drugs. A non-interventional etrospective study was performed at the University Clinical Center of Ljubljana, at the Clinical Department of Gastroenterology. In the reserch were included adult patients, who were treated at the Clinical Department of Gastroenterology, Ljubljana in 2022.
Results show that of the 131 patients who were included in the study, 52.7% would not meet the conditions for inclusion in clinical studies. The most common reasons for excluding
patients from clinical trials were too low activity of ulcerative colitis, unsuccessful treatment with previous target drugs or conventional therapy, too high age of patients, presence of ulcerative proctitis, clinically significant associated medical condition and confirmation of
the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis for less than 3 months.
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