Evaluation of Quality of Life and Psychosocial Status in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Objectives: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children is a chronic condition that affects the psychosocial status and physical activities of children and their parents. This study aimed to investigate the impact of IBD on the quality of life of adolescents and their families and the variability of behavioral and emotional adjustment issues compared to a healthy control group.

Methods: This study was designed as a prospective controlled study. A total of 159 cases were included, consisting of 84 IBD patients aged between 8-17 years and 75 healthy control subjects. All children and their parents included in the study were administered the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for adolescents and parents.

Results: The median ages of the IBD children and the control group were 13.5 and 13, respectively. Of all 154 cases, 87 were female and 72 were male. Among the patients diagnosed with IBD, 39 had Crohn's disease, 37 had ulcerative colitis, and 8 had indeterminate colitis. It was observed that both the PedsQL and SDQ scores of children and parents with IBD were statistically significantly lower in both physical and psychosocial scoring (p=0.01 and p<0.001, respectively). A weak but statistically significant correlation was observed between the PedsQL and SDQ results applied to parents (rho=-0.214, p=0.007) and children (rho=-0.208, p=0.008).

Conclusion: The lower PedsQL and SDQ scores in children with IBD and their parents suggest that IBD negatively affects psychosocial, physical, and behavioral adaptations in children.