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
Observational Study
. 2023 Aug 14;20(16):6576.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20166576.

Differences in the Quality of Life of Patients Recently Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Purificación Bernabéu Juan  1   2 , Paula Cabezos Sirvent  3 , Laura Sempere Robles  2   4 , Ana van-der Hofstadt Gomis  3 , Jesús Rodríguez Marín  1   2   3 , Carlos J van-der Hofstadt Román  1   2   3
Affiliations
Observational Study

Differences in the Quality of Life of Patients Recently Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Purificación Bernabéu Juan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic diseases, encompassing Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). An IBD diagnosis has an impact on the quality of life of patients; this impact can be different according to the type of disease.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the differences in the impact on quality of life in the early stages after diagnosis in patients with CD and UC.

Patients and methods: This was an observational, multi-center, and cross-sectional study, with the participation of 156 patients recently diagnosed with IBD (<6 months) from 4 hospitals from the Health Council of the Valencian Community. The patients were assessed through the use of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ-32), which measures the quality of life when living with IBD.

Results: The sample was composed of 80 patients with CD (51.0%) and 76 patients with a UC diagnosis. The mean age was 42.3 ± 16.2. The CD patients were more affected (42.5%) in their general quality of life than the UC patients (17.1%) (p = 0.001). In the dimensions of the IBDQ-32, the patients with CD showed significant differences in the systemic, emotional, and social spheres. The bowel dimension scores were similar in both groups.

Conclusions: The patients who were recently diagnosed with CD were more affected regarding their quality of life as compared to those who were diagnosed with UC. Psychological care must be considered to mitigate the impact of an IBD diagnosis.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; impact; inflammatory bowel disease; quality of life; recently diagnosed; ulcerative colitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
General Quality of Life of the Sample According to Diagnosis (Impact). Note. p = 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Purcell CCommentary on Jäghult S., Saboonchi F., Johansson U., Wredling R., Kapraali M. Identifying predictors of low health-related quality of life among patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Comparison between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis with. J. Clin. Nurs. 2013;22:2662–2663. doi: 10.1111/jocn.12103. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Restall G.J., Simms A.M., Walker J.R., Graff L.A., Sexton K.A., Rogala L., Miller N., Haviva C., Targownik L.E., Bernstein C.N. Understanding work experiences of people with inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm. Bowel Dis. 2016;22:1688–1697. doi: 10.1097/MIB.0000000000000826. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Engel K., Homsi M., Suzuki R., Helvie K., Adler J., Plonka C., Zimmermann E. Newly diagnosed patients with inflammatory bowel disease: The relationship between perceived psychological support, health-related quality of life, and disease activity. Health Equity. 2021;5:42–48. doi: 10.1089/heq.2020.0053. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moradkhani A., Beckman L.J., Tabibian J.H. Health-related quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease: Psychosocial, clinical, socioeconomic, and demographic predictors. J. Crohns. Colitis. 2013;7:467–473. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2012.07.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Burisch J., Weimers P., Pedersen N., Cukovic-Cavka S., Vucelic B., Kaimakliotis I., Duricova D., Bortlik M., Shonová O., Vind I., et al. Health-related quality of life improves during one year of medical and surgical treatment in a European population-based inception cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease—An ECCO-EpiCom study. J. Crohns. Colitis. 2014;8:1030–1042. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2014.01.028. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types