Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Infection on the Course of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Patients Treated with Biological Therapeutic Agents: A Case-Control Study
Alfredo Papa,
Franco Scaldaferri,
Marcello Covino,
Antonio Tursi,
Federica Furfaro,
Giammarco Mocci,
Loris Riccardo Lopetuso,
Giovanni Maconi,
Stefano Bibbò,
Marcello Fiorani,
Lucrezia Laterza,
Irene Mignini,
Daniele Napolitano,
Laura Parisio,
Marco Pizzoferrato,
Giuseppe Privitera,
Daniela Pugliese,
Tommaso Schepis,
Elisa Schiavoni,
Carlo Romano Settanni,
Lorenzo Maria Vetrone,
Alessandro Armuzzi,
Silvio Danese,
Antonio Gasbarrini
Affiliations
Alfredo Papa
Gastroenterology Department, CEMAD, Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Digestive Diseases, Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
Franco Scaldaferri
Gastroenterology Department, CEMAD, Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Digestive Diseases, Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
Marcello Covino
Department of Translational Medicine and Surgery, School of Medicine, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
Antonio Tursi
Territorial Gastroenterology Service, ASL BAT, 70031 Andria, Italy
Federica Furfaro
IBD Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center—IRCCS, 20089 Rozzano, Italy
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has raised concerns in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), not only due to consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 itself but also as a possible cause of IBD relapse. The main objective of this study was to assess the role of SARS-CoV-2 in IBD clinical recurrence in a cohort of patients undergoing biological therapy. Second, we evaluated the difference in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels between the start and end of the follow-up period (ΔCRP) and the rate of biological therapy discontinuation. Patients with IBD positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection were compared with non-infected patients. IBD recurrence was defined as the need for intensification of current therapy. We enrolled 95 IBD patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 190 non-infected patients. During follow-up, 11 of 95 (11.6%) SARS-CoV-2-infected patients experienced disease recurrence compared to 21 of 190 (11.3%) in the control group (p = 0.894). Forty-six (48.4%) SARS-CoV-2-infected patients discontinued biological therapy versus seven (3.7%) in the control group (p p = 0.033) and ΔCRP (p = 0.017), but not SARS-CoV-2 infection (p = 0.298), were associated with IBD recurrence. SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with increased IBD recurrence rates in this cohort of patients treated with biological agents.
