Effect of psychosocial stressors on patients with Crohn’s disease: threatening life experiences and family relations

BACKGROUND AND AIMSThreatening life experiences and adverse family relations are major psychosocial stressors affecting mental and physical health in chronic illnesses, but their influence in Crohn’s disease (CD) is unclear. We assessed whether these stressors would predict the psychological and medical condition of CD patients. METHODSConsecutive adult CD patients completed a series of instruments including demography, Patient Harvey–Bradshaw Index (P-HBI), Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ), short-form survey instrument (SF-36), brief symptom inventory (BSI), family assessment device (FAD), and list of threatening life experiences (LTE). Associations of FAD and LTE with P-HBI, SIBDQ, SF-36, and BSI were examined by multiple linear and quantile regression analyses. RESULTSThe cohort included 391 patients, mean age 38.38±13.95 years, 59.6% women, with intermediate economic status. The median scores were as followsP-HBI 4 (2–8), FAD 1.67 (1.3–2.1), LTE 1 (0–3), SF-36 physical health 43.75 (33.7–51.0), SF-36 mental health 42.99 (34.1–51.9), and BSI-Global Severity Index 0.81 (0.4–1.4). The SIBDQ was 47.27±13.9. LTE was associated with increased P-HBI in all quantiles and FAD in the 50% quantile. FAD and LTE were associated with reduced SIBDQ (P