Background: The standard remission maintenance treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC) is 5-amino-salicylic acid (5-ASA), given orally and topically and in different doses, with various frequencies and duration of administration. Both the efficacy of long-term intermittent therapy with low-dose 5-ASA enemas in preventing UC relapses and its economic implications were evaluated.
Methods: In accordance with a prospective case control study, 42 adult UC outpatients (29 M and 13 F) were treated with 5-ASA tablets (1.6 g/day) and 5-ASA enemas (2 g/50 mL) twice weekly, and 42 concurrent UC outpatients, matched for sex, age, extension and duration of disease, received only the oral therapy; the median treatment period was 6 years.
Results: There was a significant reduction in the number (42%: P = 0.034) and incidence of relapses (43%: P = 0.022) in the patients receiving combined oral + topical 5-ASA, who also had a significantly higher cumulative probability of not experiencing a first relapse (P = 0.001). There were no dropouts or side effects. Local therapy increased drug costs, but decreased the costs of relapses by 48% and completely precluded hospitalization costs.
Conclusions: The scheduled oral + topical 5-ASA treatment, at the lowest cumulative topical dosage tested over the longest known observation period, is efficacious in improving clinical outcome and decreasing overall costs in UC patients.