Wan Feng, Lei Zhu, Song Zhao, Kai Zheng, Luzhou Xu, Hong Shen

Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Luzhou Xu; Hong Shen, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of China, Email ntcowboy2000@163.com; jiangsutcm@126.com

Purpose: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an idiopathic, chronic inflammatory disease that primarily affects the large intestine. Coagulation abnormalities have been detected in UC patients. This study aimed to evaluate coagulation-related parameters in patients with UC.
Patients and Methods: A total of 364 UC patients were analyzed with 163 female and 201 male. Disease activity was determined according to the Truelove and Witts criteria. The fibrinogen (FIB), D-dimer, fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP), C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) levels were evaluated.
Results: We found higher D-dimer, FDP, FIB levels in severe UC compared with non-severe patients.The area under the curve (AUC) of D-dimer was 0.852 (95% CI 0.805 to 0.898) and the optimum cut-off point was 0.585, with a sensitivity of 80.6% and a specificity of 78.9%. Furthermore, D-dimer and FIB are positively correlated with ESR and CRP levels.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that D-dimer, FDP, and FIB levels are potential biomarkers for disease severity in UC patients.

Keywords: ulcerative colitis, D-dimer, fibrinogen, disease activity