Introduction: Symptoms-based differential diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease is often difficult.
Aims: To determine the differential diagnostic ability of clinical activity indexes and psychological questionnaires in these conditions, which have never been simultaneously analyzed.
Method: 37 irritable bowel syndrome, 54 Crohn's disease and 41 ulcerative colitis patients were enrolled in the study. The patients completed the Crohn's Disease Activity Index test, Illness Perception Questionnaire and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire. Hematocrit and C-reactive protein level of patients were also analyzed.
Results: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome felt their abdominal pain more severe than the other two groups (p = 0.005), while the quality of life was the worst in Crohn's disease (p = 0.0000001). Significantly more patients with inflammatory bowel disease considered that their condition is lifelong (p = 0.000781). The knowledge about disease was more appropriate in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (p = 0.00629). No significant difference was found in hematocrit levels, but the C-reactive protein level was significantly lower in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (p = 0.001).
Conclusions: Illness perception questionnaires and C-reactive protein can help in the differentiation of inflammatory bowel disease from irritable bowel syndrome.
Keywords: C-reactive protein; C-reaktív protein; gyulladásos bélbetegség; inflammatory bowel disease; irritable bowel syndrome; irritábilis bél szindróma; life quality questionnaire; életminőség-kérdőív.