Specialized enteral nutrition therapy in Crohn’s disease patients on maintenance infliximab therapy: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: Many patients with Crohn’s disease on infliximab maintenance therapy have recurrent symptoms despite an initial clinical response. Therefore, concomitant therapies have been studied. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the effect of specialized enteral nutrition therapy with infliximab versus infliximab monotherapy in patients with Crohn’s disease. Methods: A comprehensive search of multiple databases was performed. All studies of adult patients with Crohn’s disease comparing specialized enteral nutrition therapy (elemental or polymeric diet with low-fat or regular diet) with infliximab versus infliximab monotherapy without dietary restrictions were included. Meta-analysis was performed using the Mantel–Haenszel (fixed effect) model with odds ratio (OR) to assess for clinical remission. Results: Four studies ( n = 342) met inclusion criteria. Specialized enteral nutrition therapy with infliximab resulted in 109 of 157 (69.4%) patients reaching clinical remission compared with 84 of 185 (45.4%) with infliximab monotherapy [OR 2.73; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.73–4.31, p < 0.01]. Similarly, 79 of 106 (74.5%) patients receiving enteral nutrition therapy and infliximab remained in clinical remission after one year compared with 62 of 126 (49.2%) patients receiving infliximab monotherapy (OR 2.93; 95% CI: 1.66–5.17, p < 0.01). No publication bias or heterogeneity was noted for either outcome. Conclusions: The use of specialized enteral nutrition therapy in combination with infliximab appears to be more effective at inducing and maintaining clinical remission among patients with Crohn’s disease than infliximab monotherapy.