Impact of frailty on the disease profile of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprising Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a condition in which the gastrointestinal immune system responds inappropriately. It is therefore often treated with immune suppression medications to control inflammation and to prevent ‘flares’, a worsening in symptoms, which may be unpredictable.

Frailty is a description of the process in which the body loses its reserves. It generally increases with age. Frailty can be associated with many health outcomes and affect how diseases progress. 

Currently, there is limited research into how frailty interacts with inflammatory bowel disease. Therefore, we hope to measure frailty in a standardised scale and understand whether frailty affects outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease, and how patients react to treatment such as advanced biologic medications and surgery. By understanding these patterns, we can take into account frailty when tailoring treatment pathways in these patients within NHS Lothian.