First-line treatment for children and adolescents with Crohn‘s disease—an analysis based on health insurance claims data and guidelines

GuidelinesFor the treatment of children and adolescents with Crohn's disease (CD), the consensus guidelines of the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization (ECCO) represent the highest standard of evidence-based therapy (1).The primary goal is to induce disease remission within the first 90 days of treatment.In patients with luminal CD, exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is recommended as first-line treatment (2).EEN is the sole use of a liquid diet to meet 100% (or 120% [2]) of calorie needs, replacing conventional food and drink intake.The aim of this study is to analyze to what extent pediatric patients with CD received EEN.This work was conducted as part of the German innovation fund project "CED-KQN Big Data -eHealth: Improving the health care of children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel diseases" (CED-KQN: acronym of the German for chronic inflammatory bowel disease, Pediatric Quality Care Network).