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Published on: January 5, 2017

Long-term outcome of nutritional therapy in paediatric Crohn's disease

C Knight1, Wael El-Matary, Christine Spray

  • 1Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Upper Mauldlin Street, Bristol BS2 8BJ, UK.

Clinical Nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)
|May 21, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Enteral nutrition effectively induces remission in pediatric Crohn's disease, with long-term benefits observed. Many children avoid or delay steroid use, highlighting its therapeutic potential.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Gastroenterology
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research
  • Nutritional Therapy

Background:

  • Limited data exists on the long-term efficacy of enteral nutrition for pediatric Crohn's disease remission.
  • Understanding the sustained impact of nutritional therapy is crucial for treatment guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the short-term and long-term effects of enteral nutrition as a primary treatment for newly diagnosed pediatric Crohn's disease.
  • To assess remission rates, relapse patterns, and steroid dependency following enteral nutrition induction.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of a database of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease patients since 1994.
  • Inclusion of 44 newly diagnosed Crohn's disease patients treated with enteral nutrition as primary therapy.
  • Tracking of remission duration, relapse frequency, and initial steroid use.

Main Results:

  • 90% of patients achieved remission with enteral nutrition within a median of 6 weeks.
  • 62% of responders relapsed, with a median remission duration of 54.5 weeks; 38% remained in remission.
  • 47% of patients avoided steroids entirely, while steroid use was postponed by a median of 68 weeks for others.

Conclusions:

  • Enteral nutrition offers significant long-term benefits for inducing remission in pediatric Crohn's disease.
  • This therapy can help avoid or delay corticosteroid use in a substantial proportion of children.
  • Nutritional therapy presents a viable primary treatment strategy with sustained positive outcomes.
Abstract

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