Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics and risk factors of refractory Crohn's disease (CD).
Methods: All clinical data of confirmed consecutive CD patients were collected from our hospital between January 2003 and June 2013. The patients' demographic data, clinical features, therapeutic regimens and laboratory examinations were analyzed. A multivariate Logistic regression was performed to identify the risk factors of refractory CD.
Results: (1) A total of 402 confirmed CD patients were recruited for analysis. The prevalence of refractory CD was 33.8% (136/402). The rates of steroid-dependency was 37.0% (97/262) in 262 patients with a history of steroid use and the rate of thiopurines ineffectiveness was 26.9% (79/294) in 294 patients with a history of thiopurines-use; (2) Univariate analysis showed that disease location (L3 type), abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal tenderness, perianal lesion, steroid use, AZA/6-MP use, leucocyte, hemoglobin (Hb), platelet level and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP) were significantly different between refractory and non-refractory CD patients (all P < 0.05) . Multivariate Logistic regression showed that steroid use (OR = 6.516, 95% CI: 2.884-14.722, P = 0.000) and low Hb (OR = 1.023, 95% CI: 1.008-1.037, P = 0.002) were independent risk factors related to refractory CD; (3) Univariate analysis showed that Hb level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were significantly different between steroid-dependent and non-steroid-dependent groups (all P < 0.05) . Multivariate Logistic regression showed that only low Hb level (OR = 1.021, 95% CI: 1.006-1.036, P = 0.005) was an independent risk factor related to steroid-dependency; (4) Univariate analysis showed that disease location (L3 type), perianal lesion, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal tenderness, platelet level, steroid use, steroid-dependency were significantly different between thiopurines-ineffective and thiopurines-effective groups (all P < 0.05) . Multivariate Logistic regression showed that perianal lesion (OR = 2.085, 95% CI: 1.007-4.039, P = 0.029), abdominal tenderness (OR = 2.943, 95% CI: 1.452-5.964, P = 0.003) and steroid-dependency (OR = 3.599, 95% CI: 1.847-7.013, P = 0.000) were independent risk factors related to thiopurines-ineffectiveness.
Conclusions: Nearly one third CD patients became refractory during the course of disease. Low Hb and steroid use are independent risk factors. Low Hb is an independent risk factor related to steroid-dependency. Perianal disease, abdominal tenderness and steroid-dependency are independent risk factors related to thiopurines- ineffectiveness.