C-reactive protein levels during a relapse of Crohn’s disease are associated with the clinical course of the disease

Table 2 Subgroups with an index serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level of ≤ 15 and > 15 mg/L, comparison of clinical findings, drug use, surgeries and related factors

Index serum CRP level during relapse (mg/L)	≤15	> 15	P-value
	LCRP	HCRP
Clinical findings
Mean number of relapses per year (SD)	0.25 (0.16)	0.36 (0.24)	< 0.05
Mean severity of the index relapse according to endoscopic reports, on a 10 points visual analogue scale (SD)	3.18 (1.09)	4.39 (1.24)	< 0.001
Drug use
Number of patients with prednisone use	23 (85.2%)	62 (92.5%)	NS
Mean number of days of prednisone use per year (SD)1	58 (48)	107 (95)	< 0.05
Surgeries
Number of patients who underwent ≥ 1 surgeries	12 (44.4%)	27 (37.3)	NS
Total number of surgeries23	2.0 (0.6)	1.7 (0.09)	NS
Related factors
Smoking: n	23	58
smokers	8 (34.8%)	24 (41.4%)	NS
non-smokers	11 (47.8%)	24 (41.4%)
quitted smokers	4 (17.4%)	10 (17.2%)
Presence of granulomas: n	22	51
	8 (36.4%)	25 (49.0%)	NS

¹Number of days are based on the mean number of months per year;

²Calculated mean is based on these patients who underwent surgery;

³Total of ileocecalresection, partial ileum resection, partial colon resection, (sub) total colectomy and proctectomy. HCRP: High CRP response; LCRP: Low CRP response; NS: No significance; SD: Standard deviation. Data are given in number and percentage, unless shown otherwise.