Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2021; 9(36): 11220-11227
Published online Dec 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i36.11220
COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbation of ulcerative colitis
Toshikuni Suda, Morio Takahashi, Yasumi Katayama, Masaya Tamano
Toshikuni Suda, Yasumi Katayama, Masaya Tamano, Department of Gastroenterology, Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Koshigaya 343-8555, Japan
Morio Takahashi, Department of Gastroenterology, Morio Clinic, Koshigaya 343-0808, Japan
Author contributions: Suda T recruited patients and drafted the manuscript; Takahashi M designed the study and analyzed data; Katayama Y revised the manuscript; Tamano M supervised the study.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center (approval No. 20100).
Informed consent statement: All patients provided informed consent to participate in this study and agreed to publication of the research results.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Toshikuni Suda, MD, PhD, Doctor, Instructor, Department of Gastroenterology, Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center, 2-1-50 Minami-Koshigaya, Koshigaya-Shi, Saitama, Koshigaya 343-8555, Japan. toshikuni.suda@gmail.com
Received: June 7, 2021
Peer-review started: June 7, 2021
First decision: June 25, 2021
Revised: July 5, 2021
Accepted: November 15, 2021
Article in press: November 15, 2021
Published online: December 26, 2021
Processing time: 199 Days and 2.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Previous reports have suggested that physical and mental stress can exacerbate ulcerative colitis (UC). The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused anxiety and stress due to severe restrictions on economic and social activities. We demonstrated, for the first time, that the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic induced UC exacerbations. Preventive treatments such as increased 5-ASA or local administration may be preferable in situations predicted to be stressful such as pandemics.