Inflammatory Bowel Disease in The Elderly – Knowledge Gaps and Potential Directions in Research

Abstract

Elderly patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are becoming more frequent in incidence and prevalence. Several topics concerning this particular population have been investigated in the last years but data are still insufficient and current guidelines frequently do not address this problem. The aim of this brief review was to highlight knowledge gaps in this setting of patients. To our opinion, the main gaps in literature concern therapy and prophylaxis of thromboembolism, fracture risk, response to pharmacological therapies, nutrition, faecal incontinence, and post surgical recurrence.