Impact of chronic conditions on quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Background: Although studies suggest that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has a significant impact on an individual's health-related quality of life, the added weight of other health conditions and comorbidities has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to expand on prior research by taking into account the impact of other chronic health conditions on the health-related quality of life of individuals with IBD, and to develop a model to help clinicians understand the relative impact of various predictors of their patients' physical and mental health-related quality of life. Methods: 615 patients from the gastroenterology outpatient practice of a large, urban university hospital received a self-administered survey including questions about their health conditions, the severity of their bowel symptoms, and their health-related quality of life (measured using the SF-36 instrument). Results: 314 completed surveys were returned, resulting in a response rate of 51.1%. Two regression analyses were conducted to identify the role of patient demographic variables and other chronic conditions on the 2 primary outcomes of interest: the SF-36 Physical Component and Mental Component Summary scores. Statistically significant predictors of physical quality of life included IBD disease severity, arthritis, heart disease, age, anemia, back/shoulder pain, and hypertension; statistically significant predictors of mental health-related quality of life were IBD disease severity, depression/anxiety age, and headaches. Conclusions: IBD disease severity is the most important predictor of both physical and mental health-related quality of life in patients with this condition despite the presence of other chronic conditions.