Agrawal M, et al. - Using the validated inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] disability index (IBD-DI), researchers conducted a multi-centre cross-sectional study to determine the relationship between race, ethnicity and socio-economic factors with disability in IBD. For this investigation, they recruited ambulatory IBD patients at five academic centres participating in the New York Crohn's and Colitis Organization. Three hundred twenty-three patients were enrolled in this study (17.7% were Hispanic, 17% were non-Hispanic black, 56.0% were non-Hispanic Caucasian and 9.3% belonged to non-Hispanic non-black minority races). They discovered that minority IBD patients with public insurance or low household income are 2-3 times more likely to report moderate-to-severe disability regardless of disease characteristics in the United States.