Abstract
Background
Patients with newly diagnosed Crohn’s disease (CD) are associated with impaired physical and psychological well-being. These psychological characteristics are dynamic with the course of disease and could be influenced by medical treatment. Infliximab is effective and widely used in moderate-to-severe CD patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the improvement of psychological status after infliximab treatment in patients with newly diagnosed CD.
Methods
Newly diagnosed moderate-to-severe CD patients were prospectively enrolled in our study. Infliximab 5 mg/kg was administered at weeks 0, 2, 6, 14, 22, and 30. Outcomes including disease severity, illness perceptions, coping strategies, anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL) were measured at baseline, week 14, and week 30.
Results
Eighty-two patients completed our study. The rates of clinical remission at weeks 14 and 30 were 59/82 (72.0%) and 58/82 (70.7%), respectively. Patients who achieved clinical remission at weeks 14 and 30 significantly improved in illness perceptions (P<0.001 and <0.001), maladaptive coping (P=0.005 and 0.004), anxiety (P<0.001 and <0.001), depression (P=0.004 and 0.004), and QoL (P<0.001 and <0.001). However, emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping remained unchanged. For infliximab nonresponders, no significant changes were seen in illness perceptions, coping strategies, anxiety, depression, or QoL at week 14 or 30.
Conclusion
Effective infliximab treatment not only led to clinical remission in patients with newly diagnosed moderate-to-severe CD but also improved their psychological status including illness perceptions, maladaptive coping, anxiety, depression, and QoL.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (numbers 81670503 and 81602558) and the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology Foundation (numbers 16411950408 and 15ZR1426400).
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.