Analysis of the factors related to anti-TNF alpha response in the treatment of Crohn's Disease

Abstract

Crohn's disease (CD) presents a great challenge regarding treatment, considering that the best drugs available have very limited effectiveness. Objective To analyze the characteristics between groups of patients with Crohn's disease who had response versus had not/lost response to treatment with anti-TNF. Method Retrospective study of patients with CD treated with IFX or ADA. Results We studied 72 patients with mean age of 35 years; 45 of them were treated with infliximab and 27 with adalimumab; 90% of women were respondents, compared to 10% who were not respondents/lost response, and 60% of men were respondents versus 40% who were not respondents/lost response; there was no difference between IFX and ADA with respect to response; 48 patients were < 40 and 24 > 40 years old. Of those who had < 40 years, 37 were respondents, compared to 11 who were not respondents/lost response. Of those with > 40 years, 16 were respondents versus 8 who were not respondents/lost response; patients under 2 years of diagnosis had a better response than those with two to five years of symptoms, and these latter exhibited a better response than those with more than five years of diagnosis. Conclusion The observed characteristics of response to treatment of CD with anti-TNF were: association to azathioprine, female gender, age < 40 years and less than two years of diagnosis.