The patients with a diagnosis of Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have sub-optimal adherence to treatment. Patient support programs (PSP) are known to be effective in improving adherence in IBD patients. The study aimed to measure the impact of a PSP on IBD patients’ adherence to treatment and the disease outcome.

In this study IBD patients (n = 58) randomly assigned to the PSP arm attended a patient conference plus virtual interactive education through Telegram application on their mobile phones by a trained physician. IBD patients (n = 51) randomly assigned to the control group received standard routine patient educations by a physician. Primary outcomes were comparing adherence to treatment, rate of re-admission, and the disease flare-up within six months after the baseline.

A total of 108 IBD patients were followed up, 57 in the intervention with the age mean of 44 (± 14) yrs. and 51 patients in the control group with the age mean of 40 (± 12) yrs. At follow-up, PSP significantly declined the disease flare up and re-admission in the intervention group (Ps < .001), however, the compliance remained relatively equal in both intervention and control groups.

This small study confirmed the efficaciousness of PSP in improving IBD disease outcome and remission. This PSP that involves trained physicians seems to be a feasible approach in Iran.