Approach to management of inflammatory bowel disease-related arthritis

The most common extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is arthropathy. These conditions have been reported in up to 50% of patients with IBD and are more common in Crohn’s’ disease (CD), particularly colonic disease, and in females. IBD-associated arthritis is classified as a type of spondyloarthritis (SpA). The treatment is dependent on the type of SpA involvement, which can be subdivided into peripheral and/or axial disease. The treatment approach consists of a combination of non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies managed by a multidisciplinary team and is based on collaborative decisions between gastroenterology and rheumatology. In light of rapidly expanding therapeutic armamentaria for both immune-mediated arthritis and IBD, this paper will provide an overview of an approach to the treatment of arthritis associated with IBD, considering recommendations by recent guidelines and novel therapies.