Telemedicine For Patients

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprised of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a chronic inflammatory condition of the intestines that results in diarrhea, abdominal pain, fistulas, and extraintestinal manifestations of disease. IBD is common, affecting over 1 million people in the United States. The symptoms and disease course have a profound, detrimental impact on quality of life in patients with IBD In the United States, the economic impact of IBD is substantial, estimated at an annual cost of 6.3 billion dollars. Effective treatments for induction and maintenance of remission exist for IBD; however only 40-60% of patients with quiescent UC are adherent to aminosalicylate therapy (5-ASA). Nonadherence to therapy is not trivial as nonadherent patients are five times more likely to have disease exacerbations and direct health care costs are increased in nonadherent patients. Sewitch and colleagues found that many instances of nonadherence in IBD were unintentional with 31% of patients simply forgetting to take medicines. Patient miscomprehension is another important factor leading to nonadherence since 62% of patients feel misinformed about their illness. Miscomprehension can be linked to nonadherence when patients do not understand why they are taking medications or when they are surprised by unexpected side effects.

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Last date updated on September, 2024