ArticleTherapeutic advances in gastroenterology2021
Can fecal calprotectin accurately identify histological activity of ulcerative colitis? A meta-analysis.
Article in Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-Invasive vs. Invasive Markers in Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review of Intestinal Ultrasound, Biopsy, and Faecal Calprotectin.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic Utility of Non-invasive Tests for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An Umbrella Review.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- The Diagnostic Accuracy of Fecal Calprotectin for Colonoscopic Abnormalities in Patients With Chronic Diarrhea.Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2026Article
- Review
- The Use and Role of Mesalamine in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: A Literature Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Predictive accuracy of fecal calprotectin for histologic remission in ulcerative colitis.Intestinal research · 2025Article
- Beyond mucosal healing: fecal calprotectin and the path toward histologic remission in ulcerative colitis.Intestinal research · 2025Article
- Treatment Targets in Ulcerative Colitis: Is It Time for All In, including Histology?Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Integrated Analysis of Multiple Microarray Studies to Identify Novel Gene Signatures in Ulcerative Colitis.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsElevated fecal calprotectin (FC) levels have been reported to correlate with histological activity in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the accuracy of FC for evaluating histological activity of UC remains to be determined. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of FC for evaluating histological activity of UC, based on updated definitions.
methodsRelated studies were retrieved from the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane databases. Adult participants diagnosed with UC were included when sufficient data could be extracted to calculate the accuracy of FC for evaluating histological activity. The primary outcome was histological response, and the secondary outcome was histological remission, defined according to a recently updated position paper of European Crohn's and Colitis Organization. Statistics were pooled using bivariate mixed-effects models. The area under the curve was estimated by summary receiver-operating characteristic curves.
resultsNine studies were included, from which 1039 patients were included for the analysis of histological response and 591 patients for histological remission. For the evaluation of histological response, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve were 0.69 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.52-0.82], 0.77 (95% CI: 0.63-0.87), and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.76-0.83), respectively. For the evaluation of histological remission, the corresponding estimates were 0.76 (95% CI: 0.71-0.81), 0.71 (95% CI: 0.62-0.78), and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.75-0.82), respectively. FC had a higher accuracy in studies using Nancy Index. For histological response, the cut-off values of FC ranged from 50 to 172 µg/g, and the sensitivity was higher in studies with FC cut-off values >100 µg/g (0.77
conclusionFC is a valuable biomarker for assessing histological activity in patients with UC. A cut-off value of 100-200 µg/g is more appropriate to spare patients from an unnecessary endoscopy and biopsy.
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