Impact of Crohn's Disease on Marital Quality of Life: A Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study

Background and aims: Quality of marriage exerts a great effect on quality of life [QOL] and health outcomes. Few data are available on the effects of Crohn's disease [CD] on quality of marriage. We aimed to clarify whether and how CD affected the marital relationship.

Methods: Web-based questionnaires were created including an ENRICH marital inventory, a general QOL survey [SF12], a short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire [SIBDQ] and a modified Harvey-Bradshaw Index [HBI]. Married patients were enrolled through the outpatient registration system and diverse social media websites. Controls were subsequently enrolled and matched with the ratio of 1:1 through invitation emails and internet advertising.

Results: A total of 243 patients completed valid questionnaires and then 243 matched individuals were enrolled. Male patients were more affected, representing a significantly reduced total marital score. CD impaired the dimensions of idealistic distortion and marital satisfaction in both genders. There were correlations between quality of marriage, SF12, SIBDQ and HBI. Mental scale of SF12 correlated best with the marital relationship, indicating more significant involvement of mental adjustment. Multiple linear regression demonstrated that spouse's educational background, duration of marriage from disease onset, enteral nutrition, hospitalisation in past 12 months, and number of previous hospitalisations, independently impacted on quality of marriage.

Conclusions: Certain aspects of the marital relationship were impaired in CD patients, especially in male subjects. In addition to medication, mental interventions should be given attention to improve the marriage of CD patients. Despite some novel findings in this study, this research orientation deserves more attention.