Infliximab improves quality of life in patients with Crohn's disease.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess the effect of infliximab on quality of life in patients with active Crohn's disease (CD) inadequately responsive to concomitant therapies.


METHODS
We examined responses to the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) from patients enrolled in a previously reported, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Patients with active CD received a single intravenous infusion of either placebo or infliximab 5, 10, or 20 mg/kg. Most patients received stable doses of mesalamine, corticosteroids, azathioprine, or 6-mercaptopurine throughout the study. Changes from baseline in overall IBDQ score and individual dimensions at 4 weeks postinfusion were compared.


RESULTS
Patients treated with infliximab had a significantly larger improvement in overall IBDQ score than those treated with placebo at 4 weeks (p < 0.001). Infliximab-treated patients also had larger improvements in all IBDQ dimensions: bowel (p = 0.007), social (p = 0.002), emotional (p < 0.001), and systemic (p < 0.001). A significantly larger proportion of infliximab-treated patients reported having normal or near-normal frequency of bowel movements in the past week (p < 0.001), full or a lot of energy (p = 0.019), and no or hardly any difficulty doing leisure or sports activities (p = 0.011), and being extremely or very satisfied with their personal life (p = 0.046). They also significantly differed in responses regarding fatigue, frustration, ability to work, general well-being, depression, anxiety, and anger resulting from bowel problems.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that infliximab significantly improved quality of life in patients with active CD, increasing their ability to work and participate in leisure activities, and decreasing feelings of fatigue, depression, and anger.
Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104-4283, USA. grl@mail.med.upenn.edu
Gary R
GR
Lichtenstein
Mohan
M
Bala
Chenglong
C
Han
Kimberly
K
DeWoody
Thomas
T
Schaible
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000069285:Infliximab; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010919:Placebos; D011788:Quality of Life
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D010919:Placebos; D000069285:Infliximab