Adalimumab is effective in long-term real life clinical practice in both luminal and perianal Crohn's disease. The Madrid experience

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate effectiveness and safety of adalimumab in CD patients of the Madrid area and identify predictors of response.

Methods: Multicenter retrospective survey of all CD patients treated with adalimumab in 9 hospitals of the Madrid area (Spain). Univariate and multivariate analysis of predictors of response was performed.

Results: 174 patients included (50% males) with a median follow-up of 40 weeks. 30% had active perianal fistulizing disease at the beginning of the therapy with adalimumab. 59% had been previously treated with infliximab, being the lost of response (42.2%) the most frequent cause of withdrawal of the drug. 33% of patients needed dose escalation from every-other week to every week. The median time for this dose escalation was 33 weeks (range 2-120). The percentages of complete response at 4 weeks, 6 months and end of follow-up were 63, 70 and 63% in luminal disease and 49, 50 and 41% in perianal disease respectively. The prevalence of adverse events was 18% (most frequent was: 5 abscesses) causing the withdrawal of the drug in 21% of them.

Conclusions: Adalimumab is effective and safe for the management of CD, even in refractory cases to infliximab.