Korean J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr.  2006 Sep;9(2):210-217.

Efficacy of Nutritional Therapy in Children with Crohn Disease

• Suh HA
• Kim SE
• Jang JY
• Kim BJ
• Kim JS
• Lee SY
• Chang SH
• Kim KM

Abstract

PURPOSE
Crohn disease (CD) in children is frequently complicated by malnutrition and growth retardation. Conventional treatment with corticosteroid may also affect the growth of children, which may be alleviated by nutritional therapy. Therefore, we performed this study to evaluate the role of nutritional therapy in the treatment of CD in children.
METHODS
The study cohort consisted of thirty children under the age of 17 years, admitted to the Asan Medical Center from 2001 to 2005. While 11 children received nutritional therapy (NT) with an elemental diet, 19 received conventional corticosteroid therapy (ST). Comparative analysis was performed for the rate of the induction of remission, recurrence, disease activity index of pre and post-treatment, and changes of the growth using mean standard deviation score for weight (zW) and height (zH).
RESULTS
Ten of 11 children with NT and 18 of 19 children with ST completed the therapy. Two of them were lost to follow-up during the treatment. All 10 children with NT and 15 of 18 children with ST achieved remission. While there was no recurrence in children with NT, 7 with ST showed recurrence within 1 year. Pre- and post treatment Pediatric Crohn disease Activity Index (PCDAI) did not show a difference between the two groups. There were no differences in zW and zH between the two groups after 1 year of follow-up.
CONCLUSION
This study showed that nutritional therapy could be considered instead of steroid therapy for treatment of children with CD. However, a long-term study will be needed to determine the long-term efficacy.

Keyword

Crohn disease; Elemental diet; Corticosteroid; Children

MeSH Terms

Child*
Chungcheongnam-do
Cohort Studies
Crohn Disease*
Follow-Up Studies
Food, Formulated
Humans
Lost to Follow-Up
Malnutrition
Recurrence
Remission Induction