Infliximab-induced remission improves physical activity in patients with active Crohn's disease

Physical Activity in Adults With Crohn's Disease: A Scoping Review

Background

As it becomes increasing clear that managing Crohn's disease (CD) requires more than medical treatment alone, further research to identify second-line approaches for managing CD and its symptoms such as physical activity (PA) are necessary to address this public health concern.

Methods

We conducted a scoping review of descriptive, cross-sectional, and experimental studies to synthesize evidence regarding PA rates, determinants, health consequences, and interventions specifically in adults with CD. Adhering to the Preferred Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, published literature was searched to identify articles that examined PA or exercise in adults with CD.

Results

Twenty-eight articles met inclusion criteria: 13 included a cross-sectional design, 4 a case-control design, 2 cohort designs, and 9 intervention designs. Adults with CD appear to be similar to somewhat less physically active than the general population, though self-report and objective rates of PA vary widely by geographical location. PA may be associated with the reduced risk of future active disease in adults with CD in clinical remission, as well as improve health-related quality of life, fatigue, cardiorespiratory fitness, and depression. Preliminary findings from interventional studies demonstrate that moderate-intensity PA is feasible, safe, and may have beneficial effects on disease activity.

Conclusions

Overall, the benefits that can be accrued from regular PA are quite diverse; however, a substantially larger body of evidence is needed to provide firmer conclusions on the health benefits of PA that might underlie exercise-related changes in function and disease activity in adults with CD.

Physical activity in inflammatory bowel disease: benefits, challenges and perspectives

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

Physical activity is gaining significative interest in the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In the light of the most recent publications, the present review aims to describe the level of physical activity in adult patients with IBD; describe the current body of evidence on the benefits of physical activity and discuss the challenges and perspectives related to physical activity in this population.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent studies showed that IBD patients tend to be less active than healthy people. There is growing evidence of a positive impact of physical activity on mortality, quality of life, fatigue, body composition, strength and physical performance. The direct benefits of physical activity on clinical remission and disease activity have recently been observed only in Crohn's disease. Limitations to physical activity related to the disease, such as gastrointestinal and psychological symptoms, need to be considered in this population. Finally, no guidelines are available and there is no evidence regarding the effects of combined physical activity and nutritional support.

SUMMARY

Although physical activity seems beneficial and safe for IBD patients, future studies are needed to clearly define recommendations in this population.

Long-term effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab in bio-naïve and bio-experienced anti-tumor necrosis factor patients with Crohn's disease: a real-world multicenter Brazilian study

Background

The effectiveness of ustekinumab (UST) in the treatment of Crohn’s disease (CD) has been demonstrated in the pivotal Phase 3 UNITI 1 and 2 and IM-UNITI studies in both anti-TNF-naïve and anti-TNF-exposed patients. Given the selective nature of pivotal trial designs, real-world effectiveness and safety studies are warranted. We report our experience with UST treatment in a large, real-world multicenter cohort of Brazilian patients with CD.

Methods

We performed a retrospective multicenter study including patients with CD, predominantly biologically refractory CD, who received UST. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients in clinical remission at weeks 8, 24 and 56. Possible predictors of clinical and biological response/remission and safety outcomes were also assessed.

Results

Overall, 245 CD (mean age 39.9 [15–87]) patients were enrolled. Most patients (86.5%) had been previously exposed to biologics. According to nonresponder imputation analysis, the proportions of patients in clinical remission at weeks 8, 24 and 56 were 41.0% (n = 98/239), 64.0% (n = 153/239) and 39.3% (n = 94/239), respectively. A biological response was achieved in 55.4% of patients at week 8, and 59.3% were in steroid-free remission at the end of follow-up. No significant differences in either clinical or biological remission were noted between bio-naïve and bio-experienced patients. Forty-eight patients (19.6%) presented 60 adverse events during the follow-up, of which 8 (13.3%) were considered serious adverse events (3.2% of 245 patients). Overall, a proximal disease location, younger age, perianal involvement, and smoking were associated with lower rates of clinical remission over time.

Conclusions

UST therapy was effective and safe in the long term in this large real-life cohort of Brazilian patients with refractory CD, regardless of previous exposure to other biological agents.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-022-02280-3.