Treatment With Biologic Agents Has Not Reduced Surgeries Among Patients With Crohn's Disease With Short Bowel Syndrome

Background & Aims: Little is known about the effects of biologic agents used to treat Crohn's disease (CD) on its long-term complications, such as short bowel syndrome and intestinal failure (SBS-IF). We evaluated trends in small bowel resections and health care utilization among patients with CD with and without SBS-IF. Methods: We collected data on the National Inpatient Sample on 2,989,185 patients hospitalized with CD in the United States before the time period in which CD was treated with biologic agents (1993-1997) and after biologic therapy became widespread (1998-2014). We used Poisson and linear regression analyses to evaluate trends for small bowel resections and health care utilization among patients with CD with and without SBS-IF. Multivariable models were adjusted for age, sex, Charlson-Deyo comorbidity index, payer source, hospital size, region, and teaching status. Results: The proportions of patients who underwent resection did not significantly change during the period before biologic therapy (121.8 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1993 to 110.1 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1997; P trend =.14) but decreased significantly during the period after biologic therapy began (99.0 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1998 to 64.6 per 1000 hospitalizations in 2014; P trend < .01). However, among patients with SBS-IF, similar proportions of patients underwent resection during the period before biologic therapy (0.7 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1993 to 0.7 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1997; P trend = .92) and during the period after biologic therapy (0.6 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1998 to 0.7 per 1000 hospitalizations in 2014; P trend = .06). Rates of hospitalization for patients with SBS-IF increased from 16.5 per 1000 hospitalizations in 1998 to 19.5 per 1000 hospitalizations in 2014 (P trend < .01). SBS-IF hospitalizations were associated with longer lengths of stay (P < .01) and greater total charges (P < .01). Conclusions: In a study of the United States population, we found that the use of biologic agents to treat CD reduced the proportion of patients undergoing resection, but not among patients with SBS-IF. These findings indicate that biologic agents reduce some but not all features of CD. Studies are needed to identify patients at risk for SBS-IF, prevent and treat this complication, and identify new treatments.