MONDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- Children with noninfectious childhood uveitis are more likely to remain in remission when treated with adalimumab compared to infliximab, according to a study published in the April issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
Gabriele Simonini, M.D., from the University of Florence in Italy, and colleagues compared the efficacy and safety of adalimumab and infliximab in the treatment of 33 children with childhood noninfectious chronic uveitis. The study primarily evaluated the time of the first relapse after remission had been achieved. Participants were treated for at least one year with adalimumab (24 mg/m²) subcutaneously every two weeks (16 children), or with infliximab infusions (5 mg/kg) at weeks zero, two, and six, and then every six to eight weeks (17 children).
The investigators found that there were no statistically significant differences in time-to-remission and time-to-steroid discontinuation between the two groups. However, treatment with adalimumab showed an increased likelihood of uveitis remission. At 40 months of follow-up, 60 percent of children receiving adalimumab were still in remission on therapy compared to 18.8 percent of the children receiving infliximab.
"Even if limited to a relatively small group, our study suggests that over three years of treatment, adalimumab is more efficacious than infliximab in maintaining remission of chronic childhood uveitis," the authors write.
Abstract
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