OBJECTIVES: To estimate the average difference in health care utilization between people with and without ulcerative colitis (UC) in Canada. METHODS: Using the 2007-2008 Canadian Community Health Survey data, we applied a single-difference propensity score matching approach to estimate the average differences in the number of inpatient days, the number of family physician/general practitioner (GP) consultations, and the number of specialist (Sp) consultations per person per year in 12-year-or-older population with and without UC. Variables included in a stepwise logistic regression with the sampling weight to estimate the propensity scores for matching were socio-demographic characteristics, perceived health, other chronic conditions, and health related behaviours. We used a bootstrap method to estimate the 95% confidence intervals of the differences. We also used a balance test to estimate the bias before and after matching. RESULTS: Using the sampling weight, the UC prevalence rate in Canada was estimated at 0.46%. The average number per person per year of inpatient days was 1.396 and 0.868, of GP consultations was 5.006 and 3.553, and of Sp consultations was 1.538 and 0.903, for people with and without UC, respectively. The average differences between people with and without UC in inpatient days, GP consultations, and Sp consultations were 0.528 (95%CI: 0.013-1.042), 1.453 (95%CI: 0.598-2.308), and 0.635 (95%CI: 0.345-0.925), respectively. The balance test showed that the mean of bias was dramatically reduced after matching (from 21.0 to 1.7). CONCLUSIONS: People with UC used significantly more health care resources than those without the disease. Results of this study can be used to provide background information from the UC patients for evaluations of UC treatments and interventions.