Cited 22 times since 2022 (7.6 per year) source: EuropePMC Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association, Volume 21, Issue 3, 22 4 2022, Pages 771-788.e10 I-CARE, a European Prospective Cohort Study Assessing Safety and Effectiveness of Biologics in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Peyrin-Biroulet L, Rahier JF, Kirchgesner J, Abitbol V, Shaji S, Armuzzi A, Karmiris K, Gisbert JP, Bossuyt P, Helwig U, Burisch J, Yanai H, Doherty GA, Magro F, Molnar T, Löwenberg M, Halfvarson J, Zagorowicz E, Rousseau H, Baumann C, Baert F, Beaugerie L, I-CARE Collaborator Group
Background and aims
There is a need to evaluate the benefit-risk ratio of current therapies in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients to provide the best quality of care. The primary objective of I-CARE (IBD Cancer and serious infections in Europe) was to assess prospectively safety concerns in IBD, with specific focus on the risk of cancer/lymphoma and serious infections in patients treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor and other biologic monotherapy as well as in combination with immunomodulators.
Methods
I-CARE was designed as a European prospective longitudinal observational multicenter cohort study to include patients with a diagnosis of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or IBD unclassified established at least 3 months prior to enrollment.
Results
A total of 10,206 patients were enrolled between March 2016 and April 2019, including 6169 (60.4%) patients with Crohn's disease, 3853 (37.8%) with ulcerative colitis, and 184 (1.8%) with a diagnosis of IBD unclassified. Thirty-two percent of patients were receiving azathioprine/thiopurines, 4.6% 6-mercaptopurine, and 3.2% methotrexate at study entry. At inclusion, 47.3% of patients were treated with an anti-tumor necrosis factor agent, 8.8% with vedolizumab, and 3.4% with ustekinumab. Roughly one-quarter of patients (26.8%) underwent prior IBD-related surgery. Sixty-six percent of patients had been previously treated with systemic steroids. Three percent of patients had a medical history of cancer prior to inclusion and 1.1% had a history of colonic, esophageal, or uterine cervix high-grade dysplasia.
Conclusions
I-CARE is an ongoing investigator-initiated observational European prospective cohort study that will provide unique information on the long-term benefits and risks of biological therapies in IBD patients. (EudraCT, Number: 2014-004728-23; ClinicalTrials.gov, Number: NCT02377258).
