Real-life outcome of anti-tumor necrosis factor α in the ambulatory treatment of ulcerative colitis

Table 2 Characteristics of patients who achieved steroid-free clinical remission under anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha treatment and of patients who did not achieve remission

Variable	remission (n = 16)	no remission (n = 56)	P value (univariate)	P value (multivariate)
Age, (yr)	32 (15-58)	34 (18-71)	0.755	0.685
Sex (female: male)	11:5	28:28	0.184	0.560
Disease extent according to Montréal (E1:E2:E3)	1:7:8	4:25:27	0.988
Disease duration, (mo)	69.5 (7-288)	66 (2-480)	0.968	0.873
Patients with extraintestinal manifestations	6 (37.5)	24 (42.9)	0.338
Smoking (active:non-smokers: ex-smokers)	2:9:2 (n = 13)	4:45:3 (n = 52)	0.318
BMI, (kg/m2)	23.9 (18.9-30.8)	24.2 (17.3-61.9) (n = 53)	0.654	0.546
Previous medications
Purine analogons	14 (87.5)	42 (75.0)	0.289
Methotrexate	4 (25.0)	8 (14.3)	0.310
Calcineurin inhibitors	2 (12.5)	5 (8.9)	0.671
Concomitant medications
Steroids, (at start of treatment)	12 (75.0)	40 (71.4)	0.778
5-ASA	12 (75.0)	40 (71.4)	0.778
Purine analogons	4 (25.0)	20 (35.7)	0.423
Laboratory parameters before start of treatment with anti-TNFα
CrP, (mg/L)	7.9 (0-45.3) (n = 14)	3.1 (0-88.9) (n = 55)	0.104
Leukocyte number, (G/L)	8.8 (3.6-16.6) (n = 14)	8.8 (2.7-22.0) (n = 55)	0.817
Hemoglobin, (g/dl)	11.3 (8.3-13.9) (n = 14)	12.4 (9.0-17.0) (n = 55)	0.023	0.561
MCV, (fl)	82.5 (65-105) (n = 14)	87 (61-112) (n = 55)	0.374
Platelet number, (G/L)	408 (233-666) (n = 14)	333 (150-850) (n = 55)	0.114
Albumin concentration, (g/L)	41.5 (26.6-45.1) (n = 9)	43.9 (36.0-48.8) (n = 44)	0.009	0.034
Ferritin concentration, (μg/L)	17 (2-201) (n = 8)	27.5 (5-489) (n = 34)	0.223

Data are expressed as n (%) or median (range). 5-ASA: 5-Aminosalicylic acid; BMI: Body mass index, CrP: C-reactive protein (normal: < 5 mg/L); MCV: Mean cell volume.