IBD compromises survival outcomes in colon cancer

Colon cancer patients who underwent surgery appear to have worse survival outcomes in the presence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), as shown in a study.

Researchers used data from the Colorectal Cancer Database and looked at patients aged ≥15 years who had a diagnosis of stages I–III colon cancer treated with curative intent. They compared overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and cancer-specific survival between patients with and without IBD.

Analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards models. Factors including sex, age, date of colon cancer surgery, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and primary sclerosing cholangitis were accounted for as potential confounders.

A total of 35,640 patients with colon cancer were included in the analysis. Of these, 675 (1.9 percent) had IBD. The median age at colon cancer diagnosis was 68 years in the IBD group (55 percent male) and 75 years in the no-IBD group (control; 49 percent male).

In the IBD group, 10 percent of patients had proctocolectomy, 29 percent had subtotal colectomy, and 61 percent had segmental resection.

Compared with those in the control group, patients in the IBD group had poorer overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 1.38, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.21–1.57), recurrence-free survival (HR, 1.33, 95 percent CI, 1.18–1.50), and cancer-specific survival (HR, 1.46, 95 percent CI, 1.23–1.73).

These findings underscore the need to improve survival outcomes in colon cancer patients with IBD.