Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 21;18(6):3237.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18063237.

Life Stressors in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Comparison with a Population-Based Healthy Control Group in the Czech Republic

Hana Bednarikova  1   2 , Natalia Kascakova  1   3 , Jana Furstova  1 , Zuzana Zelinkova  1   2 , Premysl Falt  3   4 , Jozef Hasto  1   5   6   7 , Peter Tavel  1
Affiliations

Life Stressors in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Comparison with a Population-Based Healthy Control Group in the Czech Republic

Hana Bednarikova et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Stress has been suggested to play a potential role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis, but studies focussing on the occurrence of specific life stress events among IBD patients are scarce. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the association between various life stress events and IBD.

Methods: Patients with IBD (N = 98, mean age: 38.45, 54.1% men) were compared to a group of healthy controls (N = 405, mean age: 36.45, 58.0% men) originating from a health survey conducted on a representative population sample of Czech adults. The Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R) was used to assess the stressors.

Results: IBD patients had higher odds of reporting life stressors overall (p < 0.001), life stressors before the age of 16 (p < 0.004) and a higher score in traumatic stress (p < 0.005) and interpersonal violence (p < 0.001) when compared to the control group. Gender- and diagnosis-related differences are discussed.

Conclusion: Reporting life stressors experienced during childhood or adulthood is strongly associated with IBD. This should be considered in illness management, especially in a severe course of IBD.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; IBD; inflammatory bowel disease; stressors; ulcerative colitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of life stressors in the research groups: HC = healthy control group (N = 405), IBD = inflammatory bowel disease patients (N = 98). The differences in the occurrence of life stressors between the groups were assessed by a test of proportions (Z-test); * p < 0.05. Life stressors scores dichotomised according to mean + SD value.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of life stressors (%) in the healthy control group (HC, N = 405) and in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, N = 98). Differences in the occurrence of individual life stressors between the groups were assessed by a test of proportions (Z-test); * p < 0.05. Life stressors with low prevalence are not presented.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of life stressors (%) in the control group of healthy men (N = 245) and in men with inflammatory bowel disease (N = 53). Differences in the occurrence of individual life stressors between the groups were assessed by a test of proportions (Z-test); * p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prevalence of life stressors (%) in the control group of healthy women (N = 170) and in women with inflammatory bowel disease (N = 45). Differences in the occurrence of individual life stressors between the groups were assessed by a test of proportions (Z-test); * p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kaplan G.G., Ng S.C. Globalisation of inflammatory bowel disease: Perspectives from the evolution of inflammatory bowel disease in the UK and China. Lancet. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2016;1:307–316. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(16)30077-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cho J.H. The genetics and immunopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 2008;8:458–466. doi: 10.1038/nri2340. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zelinkova Z. Genetika nešpecifických črevných zápalov. In: Jurgoš L., Kužela L., Hrusovsky S., editors. Gastroenterológia. Veda; Bratislava, Slovakia: 2006.
    1. Bernstein C.N., Hitchon C.A., Walld R., Bolton J.M., Sareen J., Walker J.R., Graff L.A., Patten S.B., Singer A., Lix L.M., et al. Increased burden of psychiatric disorders in inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm. Bow. Dis. 2019;25:360–368. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izy235. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Drossman D.A., Leserman J., Mitchell C.M., Zagami E.A., Appelbaum M.I. Health-related quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease: Functional status and patient worries and concerns. Dig. Dis. Sci. 1989;34:1379–1386. doi: 10.1007/BF01538073. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources