Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients Who Respond to Treatment with Anti-tumor Necrosis Factor Agents Demonstrate Improvement in Pre-treatment Frailty.

The 1210 patients initiating anti-TNF therapy had a median age of 30 years; 20% were ≥ 50 years. In the first year after anti-TNF initiation, 40% were non-responders. Many more treatment non-responders were frail in the year following treatment compared with treatment responders (27% vs 7%, p < 0.001). Pre-treatment frailty (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.35-3.00) and prior IBD-related hospitalization (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.15-2.30) were independently predictive of higher likelihood of post-treatment frailty. Therapy response was associated with a lower likelihood (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.16-0.34) of post-treatment frailty. Nearly 85% of patients who were frail prior to treatment demonstrated improvement in frailty following treatment CONCLUSIONS: Response to anti-TNF therapy is an important determinant of post-treatment frailty in patients with IBD. Our findings suggest that effectively treating inflammatory states in older patients with IBD may improve frailty.