Therapy

Why?

• It induces remission in active Crohn's disease if given in daily dose of 9 mg or more ^a  
• It is less effective than conventional steroids at improving symptoms, but causes fewer steroid adverse effects ^a , so maybe an alternative if steroid-dependent Crohn's disease.  ^a  
• It is more effective than mesalazine, and causes fewer patients to stop medication due to adverse effects ^a

Crohn's disease: budesonide increases remission and causes fewer adverse effects than mesalazine or prednisolone

Patient a	Treatment	Comparison	Outcome	ARR (95% CI)	NNT (95% CI)
active Crohn's disease	oral budesonide	placebo	remission at 8 weeks	22.5% (10.6% to 34.3%)	5 (3 to 9)
	oral budesonide	oral mesalazine	side-effects at 16 weeks	27.1% (13.3% to 40.8%)	4 (2 to 8)
	oral budesonide	conventional steroids	remission at 8 weeks	-8.5% (-16.4% to -0.7%)	-12 (-140 to -6)
			steroid-related adverse effects at 8 weeks	22.4% (12.8% to 32.0%)	5 (3 to 8)