Clinical and endoscopic characterization of patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Objective: To characterize, from a clinical and endoscopic perspective, patients with ulcerative colitis at the Gastroenterology Service of the Hospital Vargas de Caracas, during the 2022-2025 period. Methods: A retrospective, observational, and descriptive study was conducted. 179 medical records of patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease were reviewed; the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics via SPSS software. Results: After excluding 70 patients with Crohn's disease, the final sample consisted of 109 patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, with a female predominance (62.4 %). The most frequent age group was 46 to 60 years (33 %). Clinical severity, determined by the Truelove-Witts index, showed: mild activity (51.4 %), inactive disease (31.2 %), moderate activity (11.9 %), and severe activity (5.5 %). Endoscopic activity, evaluated using the Mayo score, showed the following distribution: Mayo 3 (38.5 %), Mayo 2 (29.4 %), Mayo 1 (24.8 %), and Mayo 0 (7.3 %). Of the 42 patients with a Mayo 3 score, 22.9 % presented with mild clinical activity. The most frequent endoscopic lesions were: ulcers (42.4 %), erosions (31.3 %), erythema (26.3 %), and polypoid lesions (37.6 %). Histological analysis of the latter revealed: post-inflammatory polyps (58 %), hyperplastic polyps (22 %), adenomas (17.1 %), and serrated polyps (2.4 %). Conclusion: The most frequent endoscopic finding was Mayo 3 (spontaneous ulceration and active bleeding), observing a low correlation between clinical and endoscopic activity in the studied sample.