Growth and bone health in paediatric patients with Crohn's disease receiving subcutaneous tumor necrosis factor antibody

AIM: To study whether adalimumab (ADA) was associated with improvement in growth, bone mineral density (BMD) and bone metabolism. METHODS: In children with Crohn's disease (CD) there is a high prevalence of growth failure and reduced BMD. Treatment with infliximab is associated with an improvement in growth. Anthropometry, paediatric CD activity index (PCDAI), bone markers and BMD was measured in 18 patients (72% females) one year before and after start of ADA with a median age of 14.4 years (range: 5-19 years) at treatment start. Outcomes were indicators of growth with treatment as well as interval growth. RESULTS: Eleven (61%) children experienced catch-up growth after ADA. PCDAI significantly decreased from 52.1 +/- 16 to 30.4 +/- 23 (P <= 0.001). Post ADA, body mass index (BMI) standard deviation score (SDS) 0.1[range: 2.7-(-0.8)] vs -1 [range: 0.1-(-3.6)], P = 0.04 and Delta BMI SDS in children 0.3 [range: 0.7-(-0.2)] vs -1.1 [range: 1.2-(-2.3)], P = 0.01 in remission were significantly higher compared to those with moderate to severe inflammation. The main predictors for growth were 25-hydroxycholecalciferol and for bone mineralisation weight and height SDS. ADA had no significant influence on bone markers and BMD. CONCLUSION: Next to improvement of PCDAI, half of the children achieved a positive catch-up growth. A better nutritional status with improvement in BMI and weight is positive predictor for improved growth and bone mineralisation.