An Index of Inflammatory Activity in Patients with Crohn’s Disease

Abstract

Crohn’s disease [CD] is a condition which encompasses a wide variety of complaints and symptoms. These may be related to the inflammatory activity, but even when there is little activity there may be considerable subjective complaints — for example, of abdominal pain as a result of the presence of an inactive fibrous stricture. This diversity of the causes of the complaints and the lesions found greatly impedes exact evaluation of the effect of various types of therapeutic medication on the inflammatory activity. During the preparations for a prospective study which was to establish the effects of various types of therapeutic medication on the inflammatory activity in CD, the need arose for an optimally objective and quantifiable standard of inflammatory activity. The Crohn’s Disease Activity Index [CDAI] described by Best et al. (1) has, we believe, several disadvantages. With the aid of data from a retrospective study, we therefore attempted to develop a more suitable activity index — that is, an optimally objective and reproducible quantitative standard of inflammatory activity — for patients with CD.