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Quality of Life in Crohn's Disease: What's the Best Drug? - Medscape
This study suggests risankizumab may improve quality of life and reduce common symptoms (fatigue, mood, urgency) more than ustekinumab for patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease who didn’t respond to anti-TNF drugs. QOL and patient-reported outcomes are central to treatment goals.
Adult patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease, especially those who failed anti-TNF therapy; clinicians making biologic treatment decisions; researchers interested in comparative biologic effects on patient-reported outcomes.
What To Know
In a post hoc analysis of a phase 3b trial in patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease who had inadequate response to prior anti-TNF therapy, risankizumab produced greater improvements in health-related quality of life (IBDQ and SF-36v2 scores) and in several patient-reported symptoms (fatigue, sleep difficulty, depression, anxiety, bowel urgency) than ustekinumab at weeks 24 and 48.
The analysis compared recommended induction and maintenance regimens of risankizumab versus ustekinumab in 520 patients previously unresponsive to anti-TNF therapy.
More patients on risankizumab reached IBDQ response and remission and meaningful within-person improvements in physical and mental component scores of the SF-36v2, with differences reported at both 24 and 48 weeks. Study context: The trial was open-label and funded by AbbVie; several authors had financial ties to the company.
The authors note limitations including open-label design, higher discontinuation in the ustekinumab group, and that the population was limited to anti-TNF nonresponders, which affects generalizability.
Practical note: This article summarizes a post hoc comparison focusing on patient-reported quality-of-life outcomes rather than head-to-head clinical efficacy endpoints; discuss individual treatment choices and applicability with your treating clinician.
The analysis is post hoc from an open-label phase 3b trial funded by AbbVie; patient-reported outcomes can be influenced by study design and discontinuation rates. Results apply specifically to patients with prior anti-TNF failure and may not generalize to biologic-naive populations.
