Hospitalizations for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries - United States, 1999-2017.

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively referred to as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are conditions characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The incidence and prevalence of IBD is increasing globally, and although the disease has little impact on mortality, the number of older adults with IBD is expected to increase as the U.S. population ages (1). Older adults with IBD have worse hospitalization outcomes than do their younger counterparts (2). CDC analyzed Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data to estimate IBD-related hospitalization rates and hospitalization outcomes in 2017 among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged ≥65 years, by selected demographics and trends in hospitalization rates and by race/ethnicity during 1999-2017. In 2017, the age-adjusted hospitalization rate for Crohn's disease was 15.5 per 100,000 Medicare enrollees, and the IBD-associated surgery rate was 17.4 per 100 hospital stays. The age-adjusted hospitalization rate for ulcerative colitis was 16.2 per 100,000 Medicare enrollees, and the surgery rate was 11.2 per 100 stays. During 1999-2017, the hospitalization rate for both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis decreased among non-Hispanic white (white) beneficiaries, but not among non-Hispanic black (black) beneficiaries. Health care utilization assessment is needed among black beneficiaries with IBD. Disease management for older adults with IBD could focus on increasing preventive care and preventing emergency surgeries that might result in further complications.