Long-term clinical outcomes of korean patient with Crohn's disease following early use of infliximab.
OBJECTIVE
Several recent studies have reported that the early use of infliximab (IFX) improves the prognosis of Crohn's disease (CD). However, no data are available from Asian populations, as the forementioned studies have all been conducted in Western countries. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the impact of early use of IFX on the prognosis of Korean patients with CD.


METHODS
Patients with a diagnosis of CD established between July 1987 and January 2012 were investigated in 12 university hospitals in Korea. Because insurance coverage for IFX treatment began in August 2005, patients were assigned to either of 2 groups based on diagnosis date. The first group included patients diagnosed from July 1987 to December 2005, and the second from January 2006 to January 2012. We compared the cumulative probabilities of operation and reoperation between the two groups using the Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test.


RESULTS
Of the 721 patients investigated, 443 (61.4%) comprized the second group. Although the cumulative probabilities of immunosuppressant (P<0.001) and IFX use (P<0.001) after diagnosis were significantly higher in the second group, there were no significant differences in cumulative probabilities of operation (P=0.905) or reoperation (P=0.418) between two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The early use of IFX did not reduce CD-related surgery requirements in Korean patients with CD. These study results suggest that the early use of IFX may have little impact on the clinical outcome of CD in Korean patients in the setting of a conventional step-up algorithm.
Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Nam Hee
NH
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Yoon Suk
YS
Jung
Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chang Mo
CM
Moon
Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Shin Yeong
SY
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Eun Ran
ER
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Young Ho
YH
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chang Kyun
CK
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
Suck Ho
SH
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea.
Jae Hak
JH
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Konyang University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.
Kyu Chan
KC
Huh
Department of Internal Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.
Soon Man
SM
Yoon
Department of Internal Medicine, Jeju National University School of Medicine, Jeju, Korea.
Hyun Joo
HJ
Song
Department of Internal Medicine, Jeju National University School of Medicine, Jeju, Korea.
Sun-Jin
SJ
Boo
Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Hyun Joo
HJ
Jang
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
You Sun
YS
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, St. Vincent's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
Kang-Moon
KM
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
Jeong Eun
JE
Shin
Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Dong Il
DI
Park
Crohn disease; Infliximab; Prognosis