Corrected ESR/Albumin Ratio as a Simple, Practical Marker Predicts the Severity in Egyptian Ulcerative Colitis Patients

Serum biomarkers are commonly used for diagnosing and monitoring the disease activity of Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients. However, their role in predicting disease severity among Egyptian patients is unknown.

The aim of this study was to correlate these biomarkers with clinical, endoscopic and histologic severity.

This is a cross-sectional survey where 55 patients with UC were included to measure corrected Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR), hematocrit (Hct), corrected ESR/albumin ratio and albumin, as well as colonoscopy and biopsy. Sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative predictive values were correlated with clinical, endoscopic, histologic severity.

The mean age of patients was 33 ± 8.4 years. In total, 27 (49.1%) were males and 28 (50.9%) were females. Area Under the Curve (AUC) values for the diagnosis of severe clinical disease were 0.947, 0.932, 0.727 and 0.685 for corrected ESR/albumin ratio, corrected ESR, Hct and albumin, respectively. Cut-off value to determine endoscopic severity for Hct was 34 (sensitivity: 88.89%, specificity: 83.78%, PPV: 72.7%, NPV: 93.9%, AUC: 0.963, p<0.001).

Corrected ESR/albumin ratio was the best predictor of severe clinical activity of UC disease. Hct may be a marker of endoscopic and histological severity due to its high sensitivity and specificity as a diagnostic test.