UK guideline on transition of adolescent and young persons with chronic digestive diseases from paediatric to adult care

Abstract

The risks of poor transition include delayed and inappropriate transfer that can result in disengagement with healthcare. Structured transition care can improve control of chronic digestive diseases and long-term health-related outcomes. These are the first nationally developed guidelines on the transition of adolescent and young persons (AYP) with chronic digestive diseases from paediatric to adult care. They were commissioned by the Clinical Services and Standards Committee of the British Society of Gastroenterology under the auspices of the Adolescent and Young Persons (A&YP) Section. Electronic searches for English-language articles were performed with keywords relating to digestive system diseases and transition to adult care in the Medline (via Ovid), PsycInfo (via Ovid), Web of Science and CINAHL databases for studies published from 1980 to September 2014. The quality of evidence and grading of recommendations was appraised using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The limited number of studies in gastroenterology and hepatology required the addition of relevant studies from other chronic diseases to be included.

These guidelines deal specifically with the transition of AYP living with a diagnosis of chronic digestive disease and/or liver disease from paediatric to adult healthcare under the following headings;

1. Patient populations involved in AYP transition

2. Risks of failing transition or poor transition

3. Models of AYP transition

4. Patient and carer/parent perspective in AYP transition

5. Surgical perspective