Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 14, 2016; 22(34): 7625-7644
Published online Sep 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i34.7625
Preventive health measures in inflammatory bowel disease
Ayokunle T Abegunde, Bashir H Muhammad, Tauseef Ali
Ayokunle T Abegunde, Tauseef Ali, Section of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, United States
Bashir H Muhammad, Department of Medicine, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, United States
Author contributions: Abegunde AT, Bashir MH and Ali T contributed equally to the work; Ali T and Abegunde AT conceptualized and designed the review; Abegunde AT, Muhammad BH and Ali T contributed to search of literature and data extraction; Abegunde AT, Muhammad BH and Ali T drafted the manuscript; all authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript as submitted.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Tauseef Ali, MD, FACP, FACG, Section of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, 920 Stanton L Young Boulevard, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, United States. tauseef-ali@ouhsc.edu
Telephone: +1-405-2715428
Received: April 28, 2016
Peer-review started: May 1, 2016
First decision: July 13, 2016
Revised: August 10, 2016
Accepted: August 30, 2016
Article in press: August 30, 2016
Published online: September 14, 2016
Abstract

We aim to review the literature and provide guidance on preventive health measures in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Structured searches were performed in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library from January 1976 to June 2016 using the following keywords: (inflammatory bowel disease OR Crohn’s disease OR ulcerative colitis) AND (health maintenance OR preventive health OR health promotion). Abstracts of the articles selected from each of these multiple searches were reviewed, and those meeting the inclusion criteria (that is, providing data regarding preventive health or health maintenance in IBD patients) were recorded. Reference lists from the selected articles were manually reviewed to identify further relevant studies. Patients with IBD are at increased risk of developing adverse events related to the disease course, therapeutic interventions, or non-adherence to medication. Recent studies have suggested that IBD patients do not receive preventive services with the same thoroughness as patients with other chronic diseases. Preventive health measures can avert morbidity and improve the quality of life of patients with IBD. Gastroenterologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) should have an up to date working knowledge of preventive health measures for IBD patients. A holistic approach and better communication between gastroenterologists and PCPs with explicit clarification of roles will prevent duplication of services and streamline care.

Keywords: Health maintenance, Prevention, Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease

Core tip: Preventive health measures can avert morbidity and improve the quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Gastroenterologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) should have an up to date working knowledge of preventive health measures for IBD patients. A holistic approach and better communication between gastroenterologists and PCPs with explicit clarification of roles will prevent duplication of services and streamline care.