Guidelines for the management of inflammatory bowel disease in adults

TLDR

Inflammatory bowel disease, encompassing ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, is a complex disorder with wide clinical practice variation, prompting the British Society of Gastroenterology to issue evidence‑based guidelines for UK clinicians and allied professionals. The guidelines aim to promote consistency in IBD care while acknowledging they are not a universal standard of care. The guidelines were developed through a systematic literature review, expert drafting, and committee revision, with recommendations graded by evidence level, and individual patient management is tailored to clinical data and shared decision‑making.

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) (collectively termed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)) are complex disorders reflected by wide variation in clinical practice. These guidelines, commissioned by the Clinical Services’ Committee of the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) for clinicians and allied professionals caring for patients with IBD in the United Kingdom, provide an evidence based document describing good clinical practice for investigation and treatment. The guidelines are intended to bring consistency, but should not necessarily be regarded as the standard of care for all patients. Individual cases must be managed on the basis of all clinical data available for that case. Patient preferences should be sought and decisions jointly made between patient and health professional. ### 1.1 Development of guidelines A comprehensive literature search was performed using electronic databases (Medline, PubMed, and Ovid; keywords: “inflammatory bowel disease”, “ulcerative colitis”, and “Crohn’s disease”) by Dr Carter. A preliminary document was drafted by Dr Carter, Dr Lobo, and contributing authors. This was summarised by Dr Travis and revised after circulation first to the committee and then to members of the IBD section of the BSG, before submission to the Clinical Services’ Committee. ### 1.2 Grading of recommendations1 The guidelines conform to the North of England evidence based guidelines development project. The grading of each recommendation is dependent on the category of evidence supporting it: ### 1.3 Scheduled review of guidelines The content and evidence base … ### 1.3 Scheduled review of guidelines The content and evidence base …