The natural history of ulcerative colitis

Studies of the natural history of a disease can shed invaluable information on chronic disabling diseases. Such information can serve as a baseline against which various treatment options need to be developed in order to favorably alter the long-term progress of the debilitating disease. For instance, the data obtained from natural history studies would help to calculate the required number of patients in a clinical trial to demonstrate the presumed efficacy. Similarly, large natural history studies can assist in the management of patients by identifying subsets where disease process may be aggressive or more benign. Such studies can also help to identify predictors of an adverse outcome associated with a chronic disease and thereby help to stratify patients into different groups early during their disease course.