Coronavirus and IBD Reporting Database

January 24th, 2022

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, SECURE-IBD has been an amazing resource for the IBD community over the last two years. It’s incredible to think how far we have come and how much we have learned together. Thank you for your interest in and contributions to SECURE-IBD. This initiative would not have been possible without your support.

Through SECURE-IBD, we have learned that age and increased number of comorbidities are associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes among patients with IBD, and that Hispanic and Black individuals with IBD tend to have worse COVID-19 outcomes than white individuals. We found that corticosteroids are associated with more severe COVID-19 outcomes, while biologic medications are not. Overall, our data have reassured the international IBD community that patients with IBD can continue their medications during the pandemic, with the caveat of weaning steroids when possible. A complete bibliography of published manuscripts is included at the link below.

We have also learned many valuable lessons that can be applied to future projects requiring rapid data collection during a crisis. Engaging the IBD community early in the process and working with international organizations/sponsors led to a level of participation that we never dreamed possible. We remain astounded at the unwavering commitment of our community to come together to answer critically important questions for patients with IBD. Adaptability played another key role in our success; Adding new questions to our case report forms in response to emerging clinical needs and re-evaluating initial conclusions based on new data enabled us to keep pace during a rapidly changing situation.

As we move into a new phase of the pandemic with different variants, evolving vaccines and vaccination strategies, re-infections, and COVID-specific treatments, the most pressing questions have shifted away from “What are the medication and other risk factors for developing a more severe course of COVID-19 in patients with IBD?” to new questions about vaccines, immunity, testing, and treatments. As SECURE-IBD was designed to address the initial question rather than these current questions, we believe that new studies are needed and that continued reporting to SECURE-IBD will not be as valuable as earlier in the pandemic. Additionally, providers (including us) have grown tired of reporting, and the reports we continue receive are becoming less generalizable with time.

At this juncture, we believe it is time to close-down reporting to the SECURE-IBD database. SECURE-IBD served a valuable purpose at a time when our IBD community needed fast answers to pressing questions. We are proud of SECURE-IBD’s contributions and incredibly grateful for your help. We look forward to future opportunities for collaboration.

With gratitude,

Erica J. Brenner, MD, MSCR (Pediatric Gastroenterologist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Manasi Agrawal, MD, MS (Gastroenterologist, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York)
Ryan Ungaro, MD, MS (Gastroenterologist, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York)
Michael D. Kappelman, MD, MPH (Pediatric Gastroenterologist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Jean-Frederic Colombel, MD (Gastroenterologist, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York)

View the SECURE-IBD Publications

Updates on COVID-19 and IBD