ABSTRACT
Rationale:
Inflammatory bowel diseases − Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) − are chronic disorders associated, for several reasons, with psychological symptoms and stigmatization of patients.
Aim:
To compare individuals with and without inflammatory bowel diseases in relation to the prevalence of anxiety and depression.
Method:
The psychological aspect was analyzed using two globally validated questionnaires − the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the General Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7) − in addition to a sociodemographic questionnaire. Data collection was carried out in three groups, each one consisting of 100 individuals; the first comprising outpatients with a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases, the second comprising outpatients without a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases and the third by non-outpatients without a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases.
Results:
The groups were similar regarding gender, ethnicity, marital status and tobacco use. As for social class, the IBD group showed a predominance of class E (46%), the outpatient group a predominance of class D (44%) and the non-outpatient group, class C (44%) (p < 0.001). The non-outpatient group also had a higher number of young individuals (mean = 36.69 years) (p < 0.001). There was a higher number of individuals with depression and anxiety in the IBD and outpatient control groups when compared to the non-outpatients’ group (p < 0.001), but with no difference between the two first groups. There was a higher number of individuals with severe degree anxiety in the IBD group (36%) compared to the non-outpatients’ group (8%) (p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
Greater severity and a prevalence of anxiety and depression were observed in the group with inflammatory bowel diseases.
Keywords:
Inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn's disease; Ulcerative colitis; Depression; Anxiety