TBA (22W111)

A Retrospective Analysis of Fat Composition in a Cohort of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Author(s)

C. McHale (1), K Gehani (1), M. Walshe (1), S. Sengupta (1), A. Quinn (2), J. Keohane (1)

Department(s)/Institutions

1. Department of Gastroenterology, Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co. Louth 2, Department of Radiology, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co. Louth

Introduction

The role of adipose tissue in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is yet to be fully elucidated. Previous studies suggest that visceral adipose tissue may be a predictor of disease progression particularly in Crohn’s disease.

Aims/Background

We elected to investigate the difference in fat composition of patients with IBD using computed tomography (CT).

Method

Using TeraRecon© software, this retrospective cohort study analysed the CT results of patients with diagnosed IBD to obtain the following parameters; Visceral Fat Area (cm3), Subcutaneous Fat Area (cm3), Area Ratio (V/(V+S)) (%), Outer Circumference (cm).

Results

A random cohort of 58 patients were initially identified. 30 of these patients were excluded from analysis as they did not have CT at our centre. The resulting 28 patients were analysed. 15 of these patients were taking biologic treatments. There were 12 males and 16 females. The majority of patients included were diagnosed as having Crohn’s Disease (n=20). 7 patients had Ulcerative colitis and 1 was undifferentiated. In this cohort, there was no significant differences in fat composition found between patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. There was a significant difference (13.53%) in the mean percentage visceral fat area between the patients managed with biologics and those who were not (p=0.018). No difference in outer circumference was found between the subgroups analysed.

Conclusions

We report that in this cohort, patients managed with biologics have a significantly higher percentage of visceral fat compared to those who were not. Further work is needed, and ongoing, to correlate this with anthropometric characteristics and disease severity.