Long-term follow-up of ulcerative colitis patients treated on the basis of their cytomegalovirus antigen status

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population (n = 118)

Characteristics	CMV Ag+ (n = 40)	CMV Ag- (n = 78)	Pvalue
Gender			0.009
Male	26	31
Female	14	47
Age(yr), median (range)	45 (14-79)	36 (12-87)	0.10
Duration of disease (yr), median (range)	1.5 (0.1-28)	4.6 (0-38)	0.23
Disease activity			0.191
Mild	2	8
Moderate	15	35
Severe	23	35
Lichtiger’s CAI, median (range)	11 (7-19)	13 (7-21)	0.15
Extent of disease			0.31
Total colitis	33	58
Left-sided	7	20
Dose of prednisolone (mg/d), median (range)	35 (0-80)	20 (0-100)	0.0003
Follow-up period (yr), median (range)	3.2 (0.1-9.3)	2.8 (0.1-9.7)	0.66

¹Overall P value. By χ² test, Fisher’s exact test, and Mann-Whitney U test. CMV Ag: Cytomegalovirus antigenemia assay; CAI: Clinical activity index.

Table 2 Multivariate analysis of factors predictive of colectomy in ulcerative colitis patients

Risk factor	Risk ratio	95%CI		Pvalue
		Lower	Upper
Gender (male)	0.97	0.59	1.59	0.89
Age (> 40 yr)	1.13	0.70	1.82	0.61
Duration of disease (> 3 yr)	0.99	0.61	1.61	0.97
Severity (severe)	1.24	0.74	2.08	0.42
Extent of disease (total colitis)	1.21	0.68	2.23	0.51
CMV Ag (+)	0.64	0.36	1.13	0.12
Apheresis use	0.71	0.44	1.17	0.18
CNI use	1.11	0.63	1.92	0.73

CMV Ag: Cytomegalovirus antigenemia assay; CAI: Clinical activity index.

Table 3 Multivariate analysis of factors predictive of colectomy in ulcerative patients with positive cytomegalovirus antigen status

Risk factor	Risk ratio	95%CI		Pvalue
		Lower	Upper
Gender (male)	0.38	0.03	4.24	0.42
Age (> 45 yr)	1.22	0.15	12	0.85
Duration of disease (> 2 yr)	0.98	0.09	9.18	0.98
Severity (severe)	8.37	0.46	751	0.17
Extent of disease (total colitis)	2.43	0.15	118	0.55
Apheresis use	0.87	0.08	9.59	0.91
CNI use	0.54	0.01	10.2	0.69
Ganciclovir use	0.04	0.01	0.5	0.01
Dose reduction of corticosteroids	0.76	0.03	13.1	0.85
Number of CMV Ag1 (> 3)	3.77	0.53	42.3	0.19

¹This number means the maximum of CMV Ag detected during the period. CMV Ag: Cytomegalovirus antigenemia assay; CAI: Clinical activity index.