Psychological characteristics of patients with inflammatory bowel disease during the first wave of COVID-19

Anett Dávid; Kata Judit Szántó; Anna Fábián; Tamás Resál; Klaudia Farkas; Emese Hallgató; Pál Miheller; Patrícia Sarlós; Tamás Molnár; Beatrix Rafael

doi:10.5114/pg.2023.131398

Psychological characteristics of patients with inflammatory bowel disease during the first wave of COVID-19

Prz Gastroenterol. 2023;18(3):334-343. doi: 10.5114/pg.2023.131398. Epub 2023 Sep 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
² Institute of Psychology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
³ 1 Department of Surgery, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
⁴ Division of Gastroenterology, First Department of Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
⁵ Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.

Abstract

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC)) are chronic, immune-mediated diseases with unclear aetiology, characterized by relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. These conditions significantly impair patients' physical and mental condition and quality of life.

Aim: To investigate the impact of the current pandemic situation on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients' psychological status and to determine factors that mediate the level of depression, anxiety, and health-related quality of life.

Material and methods: This was a multicentre, observational, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. A total of 206 participants (male: 34%) were involved. The online survey consisted of 8 different psychological measures (such as depression, anxiety, coronavirus distress, health-related quality of life, etc.) and other therapy-specific and sociodemographic factors.

Results: 28.2% of respondents showed depressive symptoms and 11.2% indicated moderate to severe anxiety. Also, 27.7% revealed mild, moderate, or severe distress regarding the coronavirus situation. According to regression analysis, anxiety and coronavirus distress are mostly influenced by psychological factors. In contrast, the changes in quality of life and depression can be explained by disease-specific and psychological factors as well.

Conclusions: Patients need more attention during this period to help them cope with psychological factors and prevent their IBD from becoming worse.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; inflammatory bowel diseases; quality of life.