Correlation between anxiety and decreased quality of life in patients with non-esophageal eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases

Background and aim: Mental status such as anxiety and depression in patients with non-esophageal eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (non-EoE EGIDs) has not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether patients with non-EoE EGIDs had mental disorders and decreased mental-health-related quality of life (QOL) similar to those in patients with disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI).

Methods: We enrolled patients with non-EoE EGIDs and DGBI visiting the Osaka Metropolitan University Hospital, and the measures listed below were compared between the groups. We collected data using the following questionnaires: hospital anxiety and depression scale, and short form (SF)-8 including mental component summary (MCS)-8.

Results: We evaluated 21 and 17 patients with non-EoE EGIDs and DGBI, respectively. The anxiety score was not significantly different between the groups. The proportion of patients with possible anxiety was not significantly different between the groups (19.0% vs 33.3%). These results show that patients with non-EoE EGIDs had anxiety that might be equivalent to that of patients with DGBI. The depression score and proportion of patients with possible depression in the non-EoE EGID group tended to be lower than those in the DGBI group. MCS-8 scores were not significantly different between the non-EoE EGID and DGBI groups, which might imply an equivalent decrease in mental-health-related QOL in both groups of patients. In patients with non-EoE EGIDs, the anxiety score had a significant inverse association with the MCS-8 score.

Conclusions: Patients with non-EoE EGIDs may have anxiety that correlates with decreased mental-health-related QOL.