Comparative effectiveness of adalimumab versus infliximab in children with Crohn’s disease: real-world data from the prospective PIBD-SETQuality inception cohort study

Background Infliximab and adalimumab are effective anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies for the treatment of pediatric Crohn’s disease (CD). The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of infliximab and adalimumab in a real-world cohort of children with CD. Methods Data from biological-naïve children with luminal CD (age 3-18 years) who commenced anti-TNF and completed at least 1 year of follow-up were collected from the prospective multicenter observational PIBD-SETQuality study. The primary outcome was steroid-free clinical remission (SFCR), defined as clinical remission (weighted pediatric Crohn’s disease activity index [wPCDAI] <12.5) without systemic steroids or luminal surgery at 1 year. The relative risk (RR) of SFCR was calculated using standardization, correcting for the following baseline covariates: age, upfront anti-TNF, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, albumin, leukocytes, disease behavior, wPCDAI, perianal disease, and concomitant immunomodulator use. Secondary outcomes included the durability of anti-TNF treatment without luminal surgery. Results Between January 1, 2017, and June 14, 2024, 178 patients with anti-TNF were included (infliximab: n = 121 [68%], adalimumab: n = 57 [32%]). At 12 months, 34/56 (61%) patients treated with adalimumab and 66/120 (55%) patients treated with infliximab had reached SFCR. The RR of SFCR at 1 year with adalimumab compared to infliximab was 1.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.94-1.66], P = .13. Adalimumab was associated with a significant lower adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of treatment discontinuation than infliximab in patients with a concomitant immunomodulator (aHR 0.17 [95% CI 0.04-0.75], P = .020), adjusted for upfront anti-TNF. Conclusions In this prospective cohort of children with CD, adalimumab and infliximab showed comparable clinical effectiveness 1 year after the start of anti-TNF treatment. Clinical trial registration The ClincalTrials.gov ID of this study is NCT03571373.