Do clinical factors help to predict disease course in inflammatory bowel disease?

While therapeutic strategies able to change the natural history of the disease are developing,it is of major importance to have available predictive factors for aggressive disease to try and target these therapeutic strategies.Clinical predictors have probably been the most broadly studied.In both Crohn's disease(CD) and ulcerative colitis(UC),age at diagnosis,disease location and smoking habit are currently the strongest predictors of disease course.A younger age at onset is associated with more aggressive...