Crohn's disease places a substantial burden on healthcare systems, with the majority of costs arising from hospitalisation and surgery.
Dr James Lindsay and colleagues from the United Kingdom evaluated the ‘real-world’ clinical effectiveness, impact on healthcare utilisation and cost of infliximab for the treatment of Crohn's disease in UK practice.
The team reported that a non-interventional, retrospective analysis of medical records from patients with Crohn's disease treated with infliximab at 18 hospital centres across the UK.
The primary objective was to compare cumulative clinical outcomes and healthcare resource utilisation for the 0- to 24-month post-infliximab period with the 12 months preceding infliximab treatment.
Predefined outcomes included the number of elective surgical procedures, hospitalisations and healthcare provider consultations.
Costs associated with healthcare utilisation were collected from the perspective of the UK National Health Service.
The study involved 380 patients.
|All decreases were associated with significant cost reductions|
|Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics|
The team of doctors found that infliximab significantly reduced the mean number of elective and non-elective hospitalizations, and the number of consultations with gastroenterologists, gastrointestinal surgeons and radiologists.
The researchers noted that all decreases were associated with significant cost reductions.
The mean number of elective surgical procedures was significantly reduced.
Dr Lindsay's team commented, "The observed reductions in numbers of hospitalisations, surgical procedures and consultations with healthcare professionals are key indicators of the clinical effectiveness of infliximab for the treatment of Crohn's disease."
"These benefits result in overall decreases in healthcare resource utilization, which translate into cost savings for the National Health Service.'