Incidence and short-term outcomes of Kawasaki disease.

OBJECTIVE: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a childhood vasculitis with conflicting reported North American trends in incidence and patient characteristics. OBJECTIVES: (1) determine KD incidence between 1995 and 2017; (2) compare patient characteristics by era and age group; (3) determine complication and cardiovascular follow-up rates. METHODS: We used population-based health administrative data to identify children (0-18 yr) hospitalized with KD in Ontario, Canada between 1995 and 2017. We excluded children with prior KD diagnosis or incomplete records. We determined the annualized incidence and follow-up trends. RESULTS: KD was diagnosed in 4,346 children between 1995 and 2017. Annual KD incidence was 22.0 (<5 yr), 6.1 (5-9 yr), and 0.6 (10-18 yr) per 100,000 children. KD incidence increased significantly for all age groups, including from 18.4 to 25.0 cases per 100,000 children <5 yr. Ninety-day mortality occurred in ≤5 children (≤0.1%). Coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) occurred in 106 children (2.4%, 95% confidence interval 2.0-2.9) during admission and 151 (3.5%, 95% confidence interval 3.0-4.1) during 11-year median follow-up. Children 10-18 yr had longer hospitalizations (4.3 vs. 3.5 days, p = 0.003) and more CAA (7.4% vs. 3.4%, p = 0.007). By 1-year post-diagnosis, 3970 (91.3%) and 2576 (59.3%) children had echocardiography and cardiology follow-up, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: KD incidence is increasing in Ontario, with greater healthcare utilization from hospitalizations and subsequent follow-up. IMPACT: 4346 children were hospitalized for Kawasaki disease over 22 years in Ontario, and Kawasaki disease incidence increased significantly for all age groups, males and females. Older children (10-18 years) had longer hospital length of stay, more PICU admissions and more frequent coronary artery aneurysms. Nearly all children with Kawasaki disease had follow-up echocardiography within 1 year.

The Effect of Initiation of Anti-TNF Therapy on the Subsequent Direct Health Care Costs of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

BACKGROUND: Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs are highly effective in the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), but they are very costly. Due to their effectiveness, they could potentially reduce future health care spending on other medical therapies, hospitalization, and surgery. The impact of downstream costs has not previously been quantified in a real-world population-based setting. METHODS: We used the University of Manitoba IBD Database to identify all persons in a Canadian province with CD or UC who received anti-TNF therapy between 2004 and 2016. All inpatient, outpatient, and drug costs were enumerated both in the year before anti-TNF initiation and for up to 5 years after anti-TNF initiation. Costs before and after anti-TNF initiation were compared, and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to look for predictors of higher costs after anti-TNF initiation. RESULTS: A total of 928 people with IBD (676 CD, 252 UC) were included for analyses. The median cost of health care in the year before anti-TNF therapy was $4698 for CD vs $6364 for UC. The median cost rose to $39,749 and $49,327, respectively, in the year after anti-TNF initiation, and to $210,956 and $245,260 in the 5 years after initiation for continuous anti-TNF users. Inpatient and outpatient costs decreased in the year after anti-TNF initiation by 12% and 7%, respectively, when excluding the cost of anti-TNFs. CONCLUSIONS: Direct health care expenditures markedly increase after anti-TNF initiation and continue to stay elevated over pre-initiation costs for up to 5 years, with only small reductions in the direct costs of non-drug-related health care.

Comparative effectiveness of immunosuppressants and biologics for inducing and maintaining remission in Crohn's disease: a network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: There is controversy regarding the best treatment for patients with Crohn's disease because of the lack of direct comparative trials. We compared therapies for induction and maintenance of remission in patients with Crohn's disease, based on direct and indirect evidence. METHODS: We performed systematic reviews of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central databases, through June 2014. We identified randomized controlled trials (N = 39) comparing methotrexate, azathioprine/6-mercaptopurine, infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab, vedolizumab, or combined therapies with placebo or an active agent for induction and maintenance of remission in adult patients with Crohn's disease. Pairwise treatment effects were estimated through a Bayesian random-effects network meta-analysis and reported as odds ratios (OR) with a 95% credible interval (CrI). RESULTS: Infliximab, the combination of infliximab and azathioprine (infliximab + azathioprine), adalimumab, and vedolizumab were superior to placebo for induction of remission. In pair-wise comparisons of anti-tumor necrosis factor agents, infliximab + azathioprine (OR, 3.1; 95% CrI, 1.4-7.7) and adalimumab (OR, 2.1; 95% CrI, 1.0-4.6) were superior to certolizumab for induction of remission. All treatments were superior to placebo for maintaining remission, except for the combination of infliximab and methotrexate. Adalimumab, infliximab, and infliximab + azathioprine were superior to azathioprine/6-mercaptopurine: adalimumab (OR, 2.9; 95% CrI, 1.6-5.1), infliximab (OR, 1.6; 95% CrI, 1.0-2.5), infliximab + azathioprine (OR, 3.0; 95% CrI, 1.7-5.5) for maintenance of remission. Adalimumab and infliximab + azathioprine were superior to certolizumab: adalimumab (OR, 2.5; 95% CrI, 1.4-4.6) and infliximab + azathioprine (OR, 2.6; 95% CrI, 1.3-6.0). Adalimumab was superior to vedolizumab (OR, 2.4; 95% CrI, 1.2-4.6). CONCLUSIONS: Based on a network meta-analysis, adalimumab and infliximab + azathioprine are the most effective therapies for induction and maintenance of remission of Crohn's disease.