Surgery, cancer and mortality among patients with ulcerative colitis diagnosed 1962-1987 and followed until 2017 in a Danish population-based inception cohort.

In this population-based cohort of UC patients diagnosed between 1962 and 1987, 40% underwent colectomy within 50 years of diagnosis. Physicians need to be aware that UC patients are at increased risk of intestinal and extra-intestinal cancers. However, UC patients' risk of mortality is comparable to that of the background population.