Cure8 research brief
Adding partial enteral nutrition to ustekinumab was associated with better clinical, endoscopic, radiologic, and nutritional outcomes at 52 weeks in this multicentre real-world cohort of Crohn’s disease patients. This suggests a potentially simple adjunctive strategy to improve responses to biologic therapy.
Adults with Crohn’s disease, particularly patients starting or on ustekinumab, those with stenotic or perianal disease, gastroenterologists, IBD dietitians, and clinicians managing biologic therapy.
This multicentre observational study from China compared ustekinumab (UST) alone versus UST combined with partial enteral nutrition (PEN ≥900 kcal/day) in people with active Crohn’s disease followed for 52 weeks.
The UST+PEN group (n=72) had higher rates of clinical remission at week 24 and greater deep remission, clinical and endoscopic remission, and radiologic response at week 52; they also showed improvements in anemia and albumin and reductions in inflammatory markers.
The combination appeared to help intestinal stenosis and perianal disease, and benefits showed a dose- and duration-dependent trend for PEN. Both groups had similar tolerability. The study is an observational, real-world multicentre cohort using propensity score weighting to compare groups; it reports associations rather than randomized causal effects.
PEN intake in the combined group had a median of ~1560 kcal/day for a median of 180 days. If you’re considering nutritional strategies alongside biologic therapy, discuss practical details with your clinician (type of enteral formula, calorie targets, duration, monitoring of nutrition and disease activity).
This study suggests PEN may be a useful adjunct to UST, especially in patients with penetrating/stenotic disease, but it is not a randomized trial and practice should be individualized.
This is an observational cohort (not randomized); propensity scoring was used to adjust for differences, but residual confounding may remain. The reported benefits are associations from the study abstract; decisions about combining PEN with biologics should involve clinicians and dietitians.
The study reports a median PEN intake and duration but does not replace individualized clinical assessment.
Review the original publication for the complete reporting, methods, and context.
Conflict statement: Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This Cure8 brief is based on source text from the linked article. Cure8 is informational only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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