engleski

Depression, anxiety and stressful life events in people with inflammatory bowel diseases

Background and aims. According to the biopsychosocial model inflammatory bowel diseases are multifactorial in their etiology e.g. they result from the interaction of genetic, immune, social and psychological factors. Findings on the association among emotional lability (e.g. anxiety and depression) and IBD have been inconsistent therefore the aim of this preliminary study is to investigate the presence of depression, anxiety and stressful life events in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. Patients and Methods. Sixty-five outpatients of the Gastroenterology Department, Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka, participated in this study. There were 35 patients with ulcerative colitis and 30 with Chron's disease, aged 19 to 63 (M=40.83 ; SD=12, 42) who filled the questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger's Trait-Anxiety Inventory, the number of the stressful life events in past 6 months). Results. The mean total depression score was 8.47 (SD=7.04) wich is within normal range but among them 6 patients (10%) had depressive symptoms with a score of 18 or above, which reflects clinically relevant depression and 15 patients (23%) had depressive symptoms with score range from 10 to 18, which reflects mild depression. The mean total anxiety score was 32.83 (SD=12.38). Twenty-five patients (40%) had anxiety score of 35 or above which reflects elevated anxiety. Over 50% of patients have experienced at least one stressful life events during the period of past six months. Conclusion. Integrated approach to clinical practice and research in medicine requires not only monitoring the traditional physiological and biochemical outcomes but also assessment of patients’ psychosocial status. Our results althought limited by the small sample size of the study indicated that depression and anxiety score were elevated in certain number of IBD patients and should deserve more consideration in the clinical treatment of those patients. Patients should be selected for the psychotherapy on the basis of psychosocial criteria as well as patient motivation for psychotherapy. The two most significant interventions that improve quality of life and patient-physician relationships are proper patient education and appropriate treatment of concurrent depression and anxiety.

depression; anxiety; stressful life events; IBD

nije evidentirano