title: Restoration of quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease after one year with antiTNFα treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Inflammatory bowel disease impairs patients' health related quality of life (HRQOL). AntiTNFα agents control disease activity effectively. An ambitious goal of treatment is to achieve the normalization of health. This can be assessed by using a cut-off scoring threshold of the IBDQ-36 questionnaire. It has not been established if antiTNFα treatment is able to restore to normal patients' HRQOL.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical remission after one year treatment with antiTNFα agents achieve normalization of their HRQOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational and cross-sectional study in patients treated with antiTNFα for one year and in sustained clinical remission. Patients completed the specific questionnaire IBDQ-36. Complete restoration of health was considered achieved when global score of IBDQ-36 was higher than 209 points.
  
  
  RESULTS
  54 patients (43 with CD and 11 with UC) were included. Thirty patients received adalimumab and 24 infliximab. Median global score of the IBDQ-36 was 231, without differences between CD and UC (228 vs 235 respectively, p=ns). Normalization of HRQOL was achieved in all 11 UC patients and in 29 out of 43 CD patients (67%). In our sample population, restoration of health was significantly more frequent in UC than in CD (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One-year clinical remission induced by antiTNFα treatment restores perception of health to normal in most patients with IBD.
authors.affiliation: Unitat Atenció Crohn-Colitis, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (Ciberehd), Barcelona, Spain. fcasellas@vhebron.net
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casellas
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Robles
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Borruel
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torrejón
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Castells
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guarner
mesh_terms: D000068879:Adalimumab; D000328:Adult; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000069285:Infliximab; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012074:Remission Induction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D000069285:Infliximab; D000068879:Adalimumab