Crohn’s disease causes inflammation in the intestines and stomach, leading to long-term diarrhea and stomach pain. It can also lead to growth problems and lower quality of life. For children, the illness can get worse over time.Doctors treat Crohn’s disease with antibiotics, steroids, or anti-TNF medicines. Anti-TNF medicines help reduce inflammation. Along with anti-TNF medicines, doctors may also prescribe another type of medicine called methotrexate. This medicine lowers inflammation. But it may cause problems like infections.
In this study, the research team wanted to learn whether anti-TNF medicines and methotrexate work better together than anti-TNF medicines alone. The team compared: Anti-TNF medicine plus methotrexate. Patients received an anti-TNF medicine that their doctors prescribed, plus methotrexate. The anti-TNF medicines were adalimumab or infliximab. Anti-TNF medicine alone. Patients received adalimumab or infliximab, which their doctors prescribed.
The research team looked at time to treatment failure. They defined treatment failure as having uncontrolled symptoms, having a hospital stay, having to use a steroid, or stopping the medicine because it wasn’t working or due to side effects.
After one year, patients who received an anti-TNF medicine plus methotrexate and patients who received an anti-TNF medicine alone didn’t differ in the time to treatment failure, pain, or fatigue. Compared with patients who received adalimumab plus methotrexate, patients who received adalimumab alone had a shorter time until treatment failure. Time to treatment failure didn’t differ between patients who received infliximab plus methotrexate or infliximab alone.