Incidência de hospitalização em pacientes com doença de Crohn estenosante tratados com azatioprina ou mesalazina após o primeiro episódio de sub-oclusão intestinal: estudo randomizado controlado

Abstract

Hospitalization and surgery are considered to be hallmarks of more aggressive behavior in Crohn’s disease (CD). Although the cost of CD treatment differs considerably, it is remarkable that hospitalization costs, including surgery, comprise the biggest amount of the total treatment cost. Decreasing hospitalization and surgery rates is of pivotal importance to reduce the health-care costs in this clinical setting. We evaluated the effect of azathioprine (AZA) when compared with mesalazine (MSZ) on incidence of hospitalizations due to all-causes and for CD-related surgical procedures. In this controlled, randomized study 72 subjects with sub-occlusive ileocecal CD were randomized for AZA (2-3 mg/kg per day) or MSZ (3.2 g per day) therapy during a 3-year period. The primary end point was the hospitalization rate due to all-causes as well as for surgical procedures during this period evaluated between the groups. The secondary outcomes were the total inpatient admission number, the length of hospitalization and the time interval until first hospitalization. Patients treated with AZA or MSZ were comparable according to demographics and disease characteristics. On an intention-to-treat basis, the proportion of patients hospitalized on 36 months due to all-causes was lower in patients treated with AZA when compared to those on MSZ (0.39 vs. 0.83, respectively; p=0.035). The AZA group had also significantly lower rates of hospitalization for surgical intervention (0.25 vs. 0.56, respectively; p=0.011). The number of admissions (0.70 vs. 1.41, p=0.001) and the length of hospitalization (3.8 vs. 7.7 days; p=0.002) were both lower in AZA-patients. The time interval until first hospitalization in AZA-group was significantly higher than in those on MSZ (27 vs. 17.9 months, respectively; p=0.001). Patients with sub-occlusive ileocecal CD treated with AZA had lower hospitalization rates due to all-causes and for surgical management of CD when compared to those treated with MSZ in a 3-years period. The long term use of AZA in ileocecal CD patients recovering from a sub-occlusion episode can save health-care cost.