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. 2019 Dec 12;2019(12):CD012804. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012804.pub2

Summary of findings 2. Briakinumab compared to placebo for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease.

Briakinumab compared to placebo for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease
Patient or population: people with moderate to severe Crohn's disease in remission
 Setting: outpatient
 Intervention: briakinumab
 Comparison: placebo
Outcomes Anticipated absolute effects* (95% CI) Relative effect
 (95% CI) No. of participants
 (studies) Certainty of the evidence
 (GRADE) Comments
Risk with placebo Risk with briakinumab
Failure to maintain clinical remission
Follow‐up: 24 weeks
611 per 1000 513 per 1000
(354 to 733)
RR 0.84
(0.58 to 1.20)
99
(1 RCT)
⊕⊕⊝⊝
 low1 Clinical remission was defined as a CDAI score < 150 points.
Failure to maintain clinical response
Follow‐up: 24 weeks
528 per 1000 338 per 1000
(211 to 538)
RR 0.64
(0.40 to 1.02)
99
(1 RCT)
⊕⊕⊝⊝
 low2 Clinical response was defined as a decrease in CDAI score ≥ 100 points compared with week 0.
Adverse events
Follow‐up: 24 weeks
643 per 1000 656 per 1000
(431 to 996)
RR 1.02
(0.67 to 1.55)
104
(1 RCT)
⊕⊕⊝⊝
 low3 Common adverse events included upper respiratory tract infection, nausea, abdominal pain, and headache.
Serious adverse events
Follow‐up: 24 weeks
71 per 1000 22 per 1000
(2 to 229)
RR 0.31
(0.03 to 3.21)
104
(1 RCT)
⊕⊕⊝⊝
 low4 Serious adverse events included small bowel obstruction, deep vein thrombosis, and respiratory distress.
Withdrawals due to adverse events
Follow‐up: 24 weeks
0 per 1000 0 per 1000
(0 to 0)
RR 0.82
(0.04 to 16.34)
104
(1 RCT)
⊕⊕⊝⊝
 low5 We were unable to calculate absolute effects. 2% of briakinumab participants withdrew due to an adverse event compared to none of the placebo participants.
Adverse events leading to withdrawal were not reported.
*The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI).
CDAI: Crohn's Disease Activity Index; CI: confidence interval; RCT: randomized controlled trial; RR: risk ratio
GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
 High quality: We are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect.
 Moderate quality: We are moderately confident in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different.
 Low quality: Our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect.
 Very low quality: We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect.

1Downgraded two levels due to sparse data (54 events) and very wide confidence interval.
 2Downgraded two levels due to very sparse data (40 events).
 3Downgraded two levels due to sparse data (68 events) and very wide confidence interval.
 4Downgraded two levels due to very sparse data (3 events).
 5Downgraded two levels due to very sparse data (2 events).