5 years, more patients in the adalimumab group than in the infliximab group had discontinued therapy for any reason, including treatment failure, defined as a loss of response on physician global assessment (68% vs 58%).
"However, after adjustment for known clinical confounders, the discontinuation rate did not differ between infliximab and adalimumab over time," Dr Jeuring reported.
In contrast to some reports, the team found that treatment discontinuation was higher when time between the diagnosis of Crohn's disease and the initiation of TNF-alpha inhibitor therapy was shorter. Higher rates of treatment failure were also associated with penetrating disease behavior in both groups, and with female sex, "which could be pregnancy-related," he explained.
The rate of concomitant immunomodulator therapy was lower in the adalimumab group than in the infliximab group (31.0% vs 47.1%; P < .01). The rate of discontinuation of treatment during the induction phase was also lower in the adalimumab group (2.4% vs 8.1%; P = .09).
