Azathioprine maintenance therapy in IBD:medium term outcomes from a nurse-delivered IBD monitoring service at a district general hospital

Introduction Azathioprine is widely acknowledged as the benchmark therapy for maintenance of remission in IBD. Published long term outcome data from the district general hospital setting are limited. Methods A prospective data base of IBD patients has been maintained at our unit since 2005. The authors reviewed the cases of all IBD patients commencing azathioprine treatment between June 2005 and December 2007 and followed up for at least 3 years. Thiopurine methyl transferase (TPMT) levels were checked on all patients. Azathioprine was prescribed at 2–2.5 mg/kg with dose reduction in patients with low TPMT. All patients complied with weekly blood monitoring for eight consecutive weeks. Clinical remission was defined as; a lack of symptoms in combination with Harvey Bradshaw Index (HBI)