Early drug treatment leads to better outcomes for Crohn’s disease

According to a year-long study of 386 people, getting advanced treatment soon after a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease improves patient outcomes.

The disease is a lifelong inflammatory bowel condition Affects millions of people. around the world. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue and weight loss.

“These symptoms greatly affect people’s quality of life, their education, their relationships, their ability to work, etc.,” he says. Mel Parks “We don’t have a cure for this, but we do have some ways to reduce some of these bad outcomes,” said Dr.

Treatment often includes dietary changes, immunosuppressants, and steroids. In the UK, a drug called infliximab – an antibody that targets specific proteins in the body that are thought to play a role in gut inflammation – can be prescribed to people with regular Crohn’s disease. experience flare-ups or who have not responded to other, less severe Treatment

“It’s a ‘step-up’ approach, where you reactively increase treatment in response to disease flare-ups,” says Noor Amin NoorAlso at Cambridge University.

To see what would happen if this more powerful therapy were used sooner, Parkes, Noor and colleagues recruited 386 people in the UK, all with new-onset Crohn’s disease, and their Their ages ranged from 16 to 80 years.

They split into two groups. The first received infliximab immediately regardless of their symptoms, while the second was treated with other Crohn’s disease medications. If their symptoms persist or worsen, participants in the second group will also be prescribed infliximab in a “step-up” approach.

After one year, 80 percent of those who received infliximab immediately had control of their symptoms throughout the period, compared with only 15 percent of those who did not receive it immediately.

In addition, only 0.5 percent of people in the group that took infliximab immediately needed abdominal surgery for Crohn’s disease, compared with 4.5 percent in the other group.

Noor says the results show that giving people with Crohn’s disease as soon as they are diagnosed with stronger treatment is more effective in improving their lives.

Parks says the extra money spent on drugs will also be offset by not having to pay for later scans, colonoscopies and surgeries that people end up incurring frequent flare-ups.

“People with Crohn’s don’t want to be stuck in hospital or have surgery, they want to be out in the world living their lives. Anything that speeds up the path to remission, says Ruth Wakeman at the charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK. Can only be a good thing.