Ballester MP, et al. – The physicians aimed to assess the phenotypic expression and the treatment requirements in familial inflammatory bowel disease and to examine the association between a number of relatives and degree of kinship with disease severity and to quantify the impact of family aggregation compared to other environmental factors. They concluded that familial aggregation was considered as a risk factor for more aggressive disease and higher treatment requirements, a tendency for earlier onset, more abdominal abscess, and extraintestinal manifestations, remaining a risk factor analyzing the influence of some environmental factors.

• The physicians followed observational analytical study of 1211 patients in their unit.
• For this study, they examined, according to the existence of familial association, number and degree of consanguinity, the phenotypic expression, complications, extraintestinal manifestations, treatment requirements, and mortality.
• They performed a multivariable analysis considering smoking habits and non-steroidal-anti-inflammatory drugs.

• In this study, 14.2% of patients had relatives affected.
• In the familial group, median age at diagnosis tended to be lower, 32 vs 29, p = 0.07.
• There was a higher proportion of extraintestinal manifestations in familial ulcerative colitis: peripheral arthropathy (OR = 2.3, p = 0.015) and erythema nodosum (OR = 7.6, p = 0.001).
• There were higher treatment requirements in familial Crohn’s disease: immunomodulators (OR = 1.8, p = 0.029); biologics (OR = 1.9, p = 0.011); and surgery (OR = 1.7, p = 0.044).
• With the number of relatives affected, the abdominal abscess increased: 5.1% (sporadic), 7.0% (one), and 14.3% (two or more), p=0.039.
• In the multivariate analysis, these relationships were maintained.