Symptoms of Crohn’s diseases have a devastating effect which is incompatible with professional activity. Patients suffering from this pathology, if they are able to work, are regularly forced to take a leave of absence or are less productive at the work site.

This disease thus has a non-negligible indirect economic effect. Most therapeutic trials on Crohn’s disease have evaluated the efficacy of a drug in terms of disappearance of symptoms or a drop in the relapse rate. Few of them have evaluated the consequences of treatment upon the quality of a patient’s work productivity. In the framework of a wide-scale international study evaluating the efficacy of certolizumab pegol in the treatment of Crohn’s disease, a validated questionnaire evaluating absenteeism and work productivity was completed by the patients.

This study clearly demonstrates that treatment improves the presence and professional efficacy of patients compared to a placebo. The study is of considerable interest to patients whose quality of professional life could be greatly improved by treatment, but also to public officials for socio-economic reasons.

Reference:

Feagan BG, Reilly MC, Gerlier L, Brabant Y, Brown M, Schreiber S. Clinical trial: the effects of certolizumab pegol therapy on work productivity in patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease in the PRECiSE 2 study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2010 Mar 18. [Epub ahead of print].