Summaries of Must-Read Clinical Literature, Guidelines, and FDA Actions
Biologic Agents Offer Limited Benefits in Crohn’s Disease
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol; 2017 Dec; Limketkai, et al
Biologic agents have had a positive impact on Crohn’s disease, but these drugs have their limitations, according to a comparison of patient records from before and after the drugs were introduced into clinical practice.
- Investigators reviewed data on nearly 3 million hospitalized US patients from the National Inpatient Sample, comparing outcomes before the introduction of biologics (1993-1997) to outcomes after their introduction (1998-2014).
- The comparison revealed that biologic agents reduced the proportion of patients who required resection.
- From 1993 to 1997, resections went from 121.8/1,000 hospitalizations to 110.1/1,000 hospitalizations.
- From 1998 to 2014, resections went from 99.0 to 64.6/1,000 hospitalizations.
- But a comparison of the same 2 periods—1993-1997 and 1998-2014—revealed that there was no decline in resections among patients with short bowel syndrome and intestinal failure.
Citation:
Limketkai BN, Parian Am, Chen P-H, Colombel JF. Treatment with biologic agents has not reduced surgeries among patients with Crohn’s disease with short bowel syndrome. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;15:1908-1914.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2017.06.040.