Risk Factors and Outcomes of Emergency Room Visits in Intestinal Behcet's Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Intestinal Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic recurring intestinal vasculitic disorder that can lead to emergency room (ER) visits. We aimed to investigate the independent risk factors associated with intestinal BD-related ER visits. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 606 patients with intestinal BD registered at the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic of Severance Hospital, Seoul, Korea. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-five patients (30.5%) visited the ER at least once (total visits, 510). In multivariate analysis, lower socioeconomic status (hazard ratio [HR] 1.884), higher comorbidity index (HR 1.548), corticosteroid use (HR 1.459), higher C-reactive protein (CRP; HR 1.375), and higher disease activity index for intestinal BD (DAIBD) score (HR 1.013) were independent risk factors. However, older age (HR 0.982), disease duration (HR 0.850), opioid use (HR 0.528), and higher hemoglobin level (HR 0.944) were significantly associated with decreased ER visits. CONCLUSIONS: The ER attendance rate of patients with intestinal BD was 30.5%. Lower socioeconomic status, higher comorbidity index, corticosteroid use, higher CRP, and higher DAIBD score were positively associated with ER visits. Older age, disease duration, opioid use, and higher hemoglobin level were significantly associated with decreased ER visits.