Results of the first survey for the current status of inflammatory bowel disease management in Asian countries

(AOCC) and designed for one program of the 2 annual AOCC meeting, which was held in Seoul, Korea in June 2014. The aim of the survey was to identify how Asian physicians diagnose and treat their IBD patients. A survey to determine differences in public medical insurance systems and the quality of care across countries was also performed. This survey consisted of 4 parts including general information (9 items), diagnosis of IBD (18 items), treatment of IBD (30 items), and quality of IBD care (36 items). The survey was conducted through a web-based system between March 2014 and May 2014. The questionnaire was sent to medical doctors caring for IBD patients in Asia via e-mail by members of the organizing committee of the AOCC representing each Asian country. A total of 353 Asian medical doctors treating IBD patients responded to the survey (114 in China, 88 in Japan, 116 in Korea, 17 in Taiwan, 8 in Hong Kong, 4 in India, 3 in Singapore, and 1 each in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia). In Western countries, IBD affected the personal lives of patients and caused substantial costs to health care systems. Wei et al. investigated the current status of public medical Although IBD was once considered a rare disorder in Asia compared with Western countries, the incidence and prevalence of IBD in Asia have both recently increased. Until now, many Asian physicians treating IBD patients have referred to consensus guidelines provided by Western committees. However, the characteristics of IBD patients differ geographically with respect to epidemiology, phenotype, and genetic susceptibility. The variability of IBD across different countries may alter the practices of different public health care systems, including health insurance coverage, greatly impacting patient outcome. Therefore, it is timely to survey many Asian countries for the current status of IBD patient care with respect to public medical insurance systems, diagnosis, treatment, and quality of care. This survey was originally planned by the organizing