Objective  To investigate the effect of sulfasalazine on serum procalcitonin(PCT) and C-reactive protein(CRP) levels in elderly patients with ulcerative colitis.

  Methods  A total of 80 elderly patients with ulcerative colitis who were admitted to hospital were randomly divided into two groups. Mesalazine was given to the control group and sulfasalazine was added to the observation group. The patient′s disease activity, light pathological morphology, fecal occult blood, mucosal histology score, colonoscopy morphology, overall treatment effect, serum PCT, CRP and other indicators were observed.

  Results  The disease activity index(DAI) score, Mayo score, fecal occult blood(OB) score, Geboes index, CRP, PCT, erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), interleukin(IL-6), interleukin-8(IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)levels in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P < 0.05), while the clinical efficiency rate, hemoglobin(Hb) and albumin(ALb) levels weresignificantly higher than the control group (P < 0.05). The intestinal mucosa repair status of the observation group was better than that of the control group.

  Conclusion  Sulfasalazine has significant therapeutic effect on ulcerative colitis in the elderly, which can obviously improve inflammatory factors such as PCT, CRP, and improve the level of intestinal mucosal repair.