Managing the risk of blood clots in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Managing the risk of blood clots in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Study Investigators: Dr Philip Harvey, Professor Miles Parkes, Dr Tim Raine, Dr Christian Sellinger

Why is this study important?

People living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at an increased risk of developing blood clots in their veins (known as ‘venous thromboembolism’, VTE), particularly when they have active inflammation. VTE is a potentially serious, and sometimes life-threatening, problem requiring prompt medical care. Individuals who have experienced a VTE also report high levels of anxiety and trauma following their diagnosis and treatment.¹

Medications to prevent clot formation are now part of routine care for patients hospitalised with IBD, as the chance of developing a VTE is greatest for inpatients. Most cases of blood clots in patients living with IBD occur in those who are not receiving inpatient hospital care however, as IBD patients being treated in hospital are a small proportion of the total number of people with this condition. We do not currently know which non-hospitalised IBD patients need medications to reduce their likelihood of VTE; research to identify those most at risk would benefit people living with IBD and the wider NHS by allowing effective, preventative treatment.

Identifying patients with IBD who are at particular risk of blood clots is currently challenging, and opportunities to prevent this potentially serious issue are often missed. By using linked health data from Gut Reaction, we hope to find markers for those who are most likely to develop blood clots, allowing healthcare professionals to more accurately use preventative treatment and avoid potentially serious long-term consequences

Professor Miles Parkes, Cambridge University Hospitals

What do we hope to learn?

The aim of this study is to find risk factors or markers to help doctors identify outpatients with IBD who have increased likelihood of developing blood clots, and would benefit from preventative measures.

How will Gut Reaction data be used?

Gut Reaction datasets are being used to find patients with IBD who have been diagnosed with a VTE, alongside patients who have not developed clots to act as controls. All patient data is de-identified, this means that any information that could identify an individual (such as name or date of birth) is removed.

Information from medical records, including details of laboratory and imaging tests, hospitalisations, treatments prescribed, IBD disease characteristics, demographic, clinical and genetic data, will be assessed to see if a link can be found to risk of developing a clot. Investigators will check that their model accurately predicts the risk of VTE using a separate set of data from Gut Reaction.

¹Hunter et al. BMJ Open 2019;9:e024805