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Lookup NU author(s): Professor David Jones
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2021 Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Objective: Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a progressive, autoimmune, cholestatic liver disease affecting approximately 15 000 individuals in the UK. Updated guidelines for the management of PBC were published by The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in 2017. We report on the first national, pilot audit that assesses the quality of care and adherence to guidelines. Design: Data were collected from 11 National Health Service hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland between 2017 and 2020. Data on patient demographics, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) dosing and key guideline recommendations were captured from medical records. Results from each hospital were evaluated for target achievement and underwent χ2 analysis for variation in performance between trusts. Results: 790 patients' medical records were reviewed. The data demonstrated that the majority of hospitals did not meet all of the recommended EASL standards. Standards with the lowest likelihood of being met were identified as optimal UDCA dosing, assessment of bone density and assessment of clinical symptoms (pruritus and fatigue). Significant variations in meeting these three standards were observed across UK, in addition to assessment of biochemical response to UDCA (all p<0.0001) and assessment of transplant eligibility in high-risk patients (p=0.0297). Conclusion: Our findings identify a broad-based deficiency in a real-world' PBC care, suggesting the need for an intervention to improve guideline adherence, ultimately improving patient outcomes. We developed the PBC Review tool and recommend its incorporation into clinical practice. As the first audit of its kind, it will be used to inform a future wide-scale reaudit.
Author(s): Sivakumar M, Gandhi A, Shakweh E, Li YM, Safinia N, Smith BC, Marshall A, Turner L, Mukhopadhya A, Haboubi HN, Vincent R, Tan HK, Alrubaiy L, Jones DEJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Frontline Gastroenterology
Year: 2021
Volume: 13
Issue: 1
Pages: 32-38
Print publication date: 07/12/2021
Online publication date: 09/03/2021
Acceptance date: 26/01/2021
Date deposited: 19/10/2023
ISSN (print): 2041-4137
ISSN (electronic): 2041-4145
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2020-101713
DOI: 10.1136/flgastro-2020-101713
Data Access Statement: All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.
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