Crohn's Disease: Management in Adults, Children and Young People

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Update Information: NICE's original guidance on Crohn's disease: management in adults, children and young people was published in October 2012; it was partially updated in May 2016 when a new recommendation on inducing remission was added. It has now undergone a further partial update published in May 2019. The full, current recommendations can be found on the NICE website.

This guideline intends to show the place of both new and established treatments in the wider care pathway for Crohn's disease. This will be useful for clinicians and people with Crohn's disease because new drugs have been licensed for Crohn's disease in the last decade. The guideline also deals with those medications which are unlicensed for treatment of the condition, but which have been used in this way (off-label) for many years and their role is recognised in other NICE documents as well as the British National Formulary. They include azathioprine, mercaptopurine and methotrexate. The guideline aims to help improve the care offered to people with Crohn's disease and provide information about the clinical and cost effectiveness of potential care pathways. Management of Crohn's disease in specific populations (for example, in pregnancy) may require special consideration.