Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of combined enteral nutrition therapy for inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Background: So far, there are still many difficulties in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), among which enteral nutrition (EN) is the most valuable and controversial treatment. Therefore, this study will compare the effectiveness of conventional medication with EN in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: Searching the Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Clinical trial, CNKI, Chinese biomedical literature, VIP, and Wanfang databases, Randomized controlled trials and cohort studies on conventional drug + EN and conventional drug therapy for IBD were also retrieved, The data of their efficiency and nutritional status (hemoglobin, albumin, and body mass index) were extracted independently, After a qualitative evaluation of the included literature. The meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan5.3 software. Results: A total of 33 study articles were included, including 2466 IBD patients, 1248 patients in the test group (conventional drugs combined with EN), and 1218 patients in the control group (conventional drugs). The meta-analysis showed that the clinical response of conventional drugs with EN for IBD was higher than the conventional drug group (RR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.17–1.34, Z = 6.37, P < .00001); incidence of total adverse effects: compared with the combination group (RR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.64–1.48, Z = 0.11, P = .91). Nutritional status: hemoglobin, albumin, and body mass index in the combined EN group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Conclusion: For IBD patients (including UC and CD), the combination of conventional drugs and EN was more effective than conventional drug treatment alone, hemoglobin, albumin and body mass index were significantly higher than conventional drug treatment alone, and the difference in adverse reactions was not significant. However, the current research evidence is not enough to fully prove the reliability of the combination therapy, and further studies need to be verified in the future.