logo ecco
Portal

ECCO'24 Abstracts

ECCO'24 Abstracts on the JCC Website

ECCO'24 Abstract Book PDF Version

ECCO'24 Abstracts COI Disclosure

Poster presentations: Clinical: Therapy and Observation 2020

P594 Increased levels of stress, anxiety and depression among patients with CD and UC

E. Laoudi1, D. Papalouka2, M. Gkizis1, G. Kokkotis1, N. Perlepe1, I. Vlachogiannakos3, I. Papakonstantinou2, G. Bamias1

1National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GI Unit-3rd Academic Department of Internal Medicine- Sotiria Hospital, Athens, Greece, 2Medical School-National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2nd Department of Surgery Aretaieion Hospital, Athens, Greece, 3National and Kapodistrian University of Athens- Medical School, Gastroenterology Department of Laiko Hospital, Athens, Greece

Background

Patients with IBD often report stress and emotional discomfort (anxiety and depression), which lead to a compromise in quality of life. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence and severity of those parameters among patients with CD and UC and correlate them with disease activity, inflammatory biomarkers and demographic characteristics.

Methods

We analyzed data from 86 patients with CD (53 male) and 68 with UC (37 male) who attended our IBD department for routine follow-up. Participants completed the DASS 21 questionnaire (validated Greek version). DASS 21 consists of 21 questions which feed into separate measurement scales for stress, anxiety or depression. Disease activity was measured with the Harvey Bradshaw index (HBI) for CD and Simple Colitis Activity Index (SCAI) for UC.

Results

CD patients. Stress scale: based on validated cutoff values for the general population, 36% of patients had normal scores, 11% mild discount, 14% moderate, 17% severe, and 22% had an extremely severe discount. Anxiety scale: 44% normal, 18% mild, 8% moderate, 6% severe and 24% extremely severe discount compared with the general population. Depression scale: 60% had normal scores, whereas 4% mild, 9% moderate, 6% severe and 23% extremely severe discount. In CD patients, a positive correlation between stress, anxiety, depression and Harvey Bradshaw score were found [Spearman non-parametric correlation: p < 0,001) for all comparisons]. UC patients. Stress scale: 45% had normal scores, 6% mild, 15% moderate, 12% severe and 22% extremely severe discount. Anxiety scale: 5% normal, 12% mild, 15% moderate, 3% severe and 19% extremely severe. Depression scale: scores were normal 68%, mild in 33%, moderate in 12%, and extremely severe in 7% of patients. No correlation was found between DASS 21 and SCAI scores. When the CD and UC groups were compared, no significant differences were found for stress (p = 0,162) and anxiety (p = 0,194). In contrast, scores for depression were higher in CD patients (t-test p = 0,007). Female patients had higher scores for stress (p <0,01) and anxiety (p <0,01) in comparison to male patients with IBD. We did not observe significant correlations between DASS scores and Hb or CRP.

Conclusion

Our results show that a considerable percentage of patients with IBD present with deranged emotional status. We were able to recognise correlations between specific alterations and patient subpopulations. Those findings support the notion that patients with IBD may benefit from psychological interventions.