Epidemiology, Disease Course, and Clinical Outcomes of Perianal Fistulas and Fissures Crohn’s Disease: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in Taiwan

Abstract

Background Population-based data on the course of perianal disease in East Asian populations with Crohn’s disease (CD) are limited. This study examined the prevalence, clinical course, and compared the outcomes of CD patients with perianal CD (pCD) versus without pCD in Taiwan. Methods A nationwide population-based study was implemented from 2000 to 2017 by using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Results Of 2424 patients with CD, 358 (14.8%) patients with pCD were identified. Most patients with CD and pCD were men (79.3%). The mean age at CD diagnosis was lower in patients with pCD (33.7 years) than in those without pCD (44.9 years). Approximately half the patients with pCD received the pCD diagnosis at least 6 months before receiving a CD diagnosis. Approximately one third (121/358) of patients with pCD had recurrent fistula; the median recurrence interval was 239 days. Compared with patients without pCD, patients with pCD had higher mean incidences of hospitalization (7.0 vs 3.8, P < 0.01), outpatient visits (13 vs 2.9, P < 0.01), and emergency room visits (10.3 vs 4.4, P < 0.01) over a 15-year period. Although patients with pCD had higher rates of health-care utilization, their 15-year mortality rate was lower than that for those without pCD (6.1% vs 17.3%, P < 0.01). Conclusions The period prevalence of pCD in Taiwanese patients with CD was 14.8%. Although patients with pCD required more intensive care and had greater health-care utilization, they did not have inferior survival outcomes compared with those without pCD.