In-Hospital Mortality from Ulcerative Colitis Lower with Gastroenterologist Care

Whether in-hospital care of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) results in better outcomes when managed by gastroenterologists compared with other specialists is unknown. To investigate this issue, researchers retrospectively examined data from population-based health databases for 4278 patients in Ontario, Canada.

Compared with patients hospitalized for UC under the care of a gastroenterologist, the in-hospital death rate was higher for those under the care of a nongastroenterologist (0.2% vs. 1.1%, P<0.0001), and in-hospital mortality risk was higher for patients under the care of other internists (odds ratio, 5.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.75–17.2) and general practitioners (OR, 6.02; 95% CI, 1.84–19.7). Mortality risk trended higher …