title: Inflammatory bowel disease and hospital treatment in Italy: the RING multi-centre study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the management of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, specifically Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, in Italian gastroenterology units.
  
  
  METHODS
  The RING (Ricerca Informatizzata in Gastroenterologia) project is an observational study collecting hospital discharge forms from 56 centres. Factors associated with the length of hospital stay were studied using multivariate logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 24 months starting from August 2000, out of 29,376 hospital discharge forms, 2131 (7.3%) were collected for inflammatory bowel disease (1163 for Crohn's disease and 968 for ulcerative colitis). The Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis groups were compared according to demographic characteristics, diagnoses, procedures and hospital stay. In Crohn's disease, computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging, x-rays/barium enema, number of procedures and number of diagnoses were significantly associated with a hospital stay longer than 10 days. In ulcerative colitis, this association was found for parenteral nutrition, malnutrition, computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging and number of procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Crohn's disease was confirmed as a disabling disorder requiring more frequent hospital treatment than ulcerative colitis. For the latter, parenteral nutrition and malnutrition were related to a longer hospital stay. The number of procedures, especially abdominal computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging, was a major item for both pathologies.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology, Hospital S Carlo Borromeo, Milan, Italy. marco.soncini1@tin.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soncini
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Triossi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Magni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis