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OBJECTIVES: Therelationship between abnormal hepatic biochemistries and inflammatory boweldisease (IBD) is unclear. We determined the prevalence of abnormal hepaticbiochemistries and chronic liver disease in a cohort of IBD patients, and wecompared patients with normal and abnormal liver biochemistries.METHODS: Patients with IBD evaluated at ourinstitution between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2000 were identified. Dataon gender, age, IBD subtype, extent and activity, medications, liver diseasehistory, liver biochemistries, and vital status were collected. The χ2 test, Student's t-test, and Cox proportionalregression were used. RESULTS: We identified 544 patients withavailable hepatic biochemistries. Abnormal hepatic biochemistries were found in159 (29%). Defined chronic liver disease was present in 5.8% of patients(primary sclerosing cholangitis in 4.6%). The prevalence of abnormal hepaticbiochemistries was 27% for those with active IBD and 36% for those in remission(P = 0.06). Patients with abnormal hepatic biochemistries were less frequentlyon 5-aminosalicylates (35% vs 51%, P < 0.001), and a smaller proportion wasalive at last follow-up (90.4% vs 98.5%, P < 0.0001). The age-adjusted riskof death was 4.8 times higher in patients with abnormal hepatic biochemistries,after excluding patients with any diagnosis of liver disease.CONCLUSIONS: Abnormal hepaticbiochemistries were present in nearly one-third of our patients, andsurprisingly, they were not associated with IBD activity. Abnormal hepaticbiochemistries and chronic liver disease appeared to have a negative impact onvital status. Persistently abnormal hepatic biochemistries should be evaluated,and not attributed to IBD activity. >Leggil'articolo