Background/Aims: To determine time to diagnosis (TTD) and its impact on surgery and advanced therapy (AT) burden in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in a multi-ethnic United Arab Emirates (UAE) cohort, a region in the acceleration phase of IBD incidence. Methods: Retrospective analysis of the UAE Epi-IBD registry. TTD was calculated from patient-reported symptom onset to diagnosis. Logistic, Poisson regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used. Sensitivity analyses using 6- and 18-month thresholds and TTD quartiles were performed. Results: Among 243 patients (148 Crohn's disease CD, 95 ulcerative colitis UC), median TTD was 4.0 months (interquartile range IQR, 1.5-9.0 months) for CD and 3.0 months (IQR, 1.0-7.0 months) for UC (P= 0.111, Wilcoxon; log-rank P= 0.054), shorter than pooled estimates from high-income countries. UC TTD accelerated significantly post-2021 (2.0 months vs. 5.5 months; P= 0.006), while CD remained stable (P= 0.646). Diagnostic speed was identical between tertiary and non-tertiary settings (P= 0.943). Diagnostic delay did not predict AT exposure (P= 0.986) or surgical risk (P= 0.586); instead, penetrating CD phenotype drove therapy burden (P= 0.019). Time to first AT was rapid (median 4.5 months for CD, 14.0 months for UC). Era-stratified analysis showed a trend toward higher AT use in 2021 to 2025 (incidence rate ratio, 1.36; 95% CI, 0.98-1.89; P= 0.071), consistent with expanding therapeutic availability, though null association between delay and outcomes persisted after adjustment. Conclusions: TTD in this cohort is shorter than global benchmarks and comparable to recent Asian data. Diagnostic delay did not predict adverse outcomes, though limited surgical events and short follow-up preclude definitive conclusions. Multiple factors beyond healthcare system architecture may contribute, and larger multicenter studies are needed.
Swaid et al. (2026) studied this question.