Comparative Acceptability of Therapeutic Maintenance Regimens in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Results from the Nationwide ACCEPT2 Study

Background Owing to growing number of therapeutic options with similar efficacy and safety, we compared the acceptability of therapeutic maintenance regimens in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods From a nationwide study (24 public or private centers), IBD patients were consecutively included for 6 weeks. A dedicated questionnaire including acceptability numerical scales (ANS) ranging from 0 to 10 (highest acceptability) was administered to both patients and related physicians. Results Among 1850 included patients (65.9% with Crohn's disease), the ANS were 8.68 +/- 2.52 for oral route (first choice in 65.8%), 7.67 +/- 2.94 for subcutaneous injections (first choice in 21.4%), and 6.79 +/- 3.31 for intravenous infusions (first choice in 12.8%; P < .001 for each comparison). In biologic-naive patients (n = 315), the most accepted maintenance regimens were oral intake once (ANS = 8.8 +/- 2.2) or twice (ANS = 6.9 +/- 3.4) daily and subcutaneous injections every 12 or 8 weeks (ANS = 7.9 +/- 3.0 and ANS = 7.2 +/- 3.2, respectively). Among 342 patients with prior exposure to subcutaneous biologics, the preferred regimens were subcutaneous injections (>= 2 week-intervals; ANS between 9.1 +/- 2.3 and 8.1 +/- 2.7) and oral intake once daily (ANS = 7.7 +/- 3.2); although it was subcutaneous injections every 12 or 8 weeks (ANS = 8.4 +/- 3.0 and ANS = 8.1 +/- 3.0, respectively) and oral intake once daily (ANS = 7.6 +/- 3.1) in case of prior exposure to intravenous biologics (n = 1181). The impact of usual therapeutic escalation or de-escalation was mild (effect size <0.5). From patients' acceptability perspective, superiority and noninferiority cutoff values should be 15% and 5%, respectively. Conclusions Although oral intake is overall preferred, acceptability is highly impacted by the rhythm of administration and prior medication exposures. However, SC treatment with long intervals between 2 injections (>= 8 weeks) and oral intake once daily seems to be the most accepted modalities. Lay Summary Considering both the route of medication delivery and the interval between 2 administrations, we observed a strong impact of patients' experience regarding previous treatments. The most accepted maintenance regimens were subcutaneous injections with interval >= 8 weeks and oral intake.