Short-Term Clinical Response to Corticosteroids Can Predict Long-Term Natural History of Ulcerative Colitis: Prospective Study Experience

Background Long-term outcome and natural history of steroid response in adult ulcerative colitis patients based on short-term response is largely unknown. Aim To evaluate whether short-term clinical response at 30 days after steroid initiation for moderate to severe disease can predict long-term outcome. Methods This prospective observational study recruited 161 patients who received oral/intravenous steroid therapy at our institution from April 2005 to July 2009. Short-term response at 30 days and long-term response at the end of first and third years were measured. Risk factors for long-term outcome at 1 and 3 years were analyzed by multivariate regression model. Results At the end of 30 days, 90 patients (55.9%) had complete response, 47 (29.2%) partial response, and 24 (14.9%) did not respond at all. At the end of first year, 53/90 (60%) complete responders (at 30 days) maintained steroid-free remission when compared to 17/71 (23.9%, p