HYPERGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE PATIENTS: A RESTROSPECTIVE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: prevalence of hypergammaglobulinemia in IBD patients is uncertain and to date, there is no available literature concerning its clinical significance.Aim: to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of hypergammaglobulinemia in IBD patients in a retrospective cross-sectional study.Material and methods: IBD patients referring at our Unit in outpatient visit, between January 2013 and December 2014 were evaluated for inclusion and 307 patients were included (ulcerative colitis (UC)212, crohn disease (CD) 95). Prevalence of hypergammaglobulinemia was calculated. Clinical and biochemical features in patients with and without hypergammaglobulinemia were compared by t-test and chi-squared test. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed with presence of hypergammaglobulinemia set as independent variable. Odd Ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were calculated. Results: hypergammaglobulinemia was found in 46/307 (15%) of IBD patients. IBD patients with hypergammaglobulinemia had significant higher prevalence of UC (76% vs 68%, p=0.05) and extra-intestinal manifestations (28% vs 14%, p<0.05). At the multivariate analysis, UC (p<0.05) and extra-intestinal manifestations (p<0.005) were independently associated with presence of hypergammaglobulinemia. UC patients with hypergammaglobulinemia had significant higher association with presence of extra-intestinal manifestation than UC patients without hypergammaglobulinemia (OR 4.5, 95%CI 1.6 to 12.1, p=0.0032).Conclusion: hypergammaglobulinemia was quite frequent in IBD patients and it was associated with higher prevalence of extra-intestinal manifestation in UC patients.