Elena Chernin

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

Background and aims Threatening 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. Methods Consecutive 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. Results The cohort included 391 patients, mean age 38.38±13.95 years, 59.6% women, with intermediate economic status. The median scores were as follows: P-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<0.001). Higher LTE was associated with lower SF-36 physical and mental health (P<0.001); FAD was associated with reduced mental health (P<0.001). FAD and LTE were associated positively with GSI in all quantiles; age was associated negatively. Conclusion CD patients with more threatening life experiences and adverse family relations were less healthy both physically and mentally. Physicians offering patients sociopsychological therapy should relate to threatening life experiences and family relations.

Effect of threatening life experiences and adverse family relations in ulcerative colitis: analysis using structural equation modeling and comparison with Crohn's disease.

Background and aims We published that threatening life experiences and adverse family relations impact Crohn’s disease (CD) adversely. In this study, we examine the influence of these stressors in ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients and methods Patients completed demography, economic status (ES), the Patient-Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (P-SCCAI), the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ), the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Family Assessment Device (FAD), and the List of Threatening Life Experiences (LTE). Analysis included multiple linear and quantile regressions and structural equation modeling, comparing CD. Results UC patients (N=148, age 47.55±16.04 years, 50.6% women) had scores [median (interquartile range)] as follows: SCAAI, 2 (0.3–4.8); FAD, 1.8 (1.3–2.2); LTE, 1.0 (0–2.0); SF-36 Physical Health, 49.4 (36.8–55.1); SF-36 Mental Health, 45 (33.6–54.5); Brief Symptom Inventory-Global Severity Index (GSI), 0.5 (0.2–1.0). SIBDQ was 49.76±14.91. There were significant positive associations for LTE and SCAAI (25, 50, 75% quantiles), FAD and SF-36 Mental Health, FAD and LTE with GSI (50, 75, 90% quantiles), and ES with SF-36 and SIBDQ. The negative associations were as follows: LTE with SF-36 Physical/Mental Health, SIBDQ with FAD and LTE, ES with GSI (all quantiles), and P-SCCAI (75, 90% quantiles). In structural equation modeling analysis, LTE impacted ES negatively and ES impacted GSI negatively; LTE impacted GSI positively and GSI impacted P-SCCAI positively. In a split model, ES had a greater effect on GSI in UC than CD, whereas other path magnitudes were similar. Conclusion Threatening life experiences, adverse family relations, and poor ES make UC patients less healthy both physically and mentally. The impact of ES is worse in UC than CD.

Simple pain measures reveal psycho-social pathology in patients with Crohn’s disease

AIM To determine whether pain has psycho-social associations in adult Crohn’s disease (CD) patients. METHODS Patients completed demographics, disease status, Patient Harvey-Bradshaw Index (P-HBI), Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ), and five socio-psychological questionnaires: Brief Symptom Inventory, Brief COPE Inventory, Family Assessment Device, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire. Pain sub-scales in P-HBI, SF-36 and SIBDQ measures were recoded into 4 identical scores for univariate and multinomial logistic regression analysis of associations with psycho-social variables. RESULTS The cohort comprised 594 patients, mean age 38.6 ± 14.8 years, women 52.5%, P-HBI 5.76 ± 5.15. P-HBI, SF-36 and SIBDQ broadly agreed in their assessment of pain intensity. More severe pain was significantly associated with female gender, low socio-economic status, unemployment, Israeli birth and smoking. Higher pain scores correlated positively with psychological stress, dysfunctional coping strategies, poor family relationships, absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity loss and activity impairment and all WPAI sub-scores. Patients exhibiting greater satisfaction with life had less pain. The regression showed increasing odds ratios for psychological stress (lowest 2.26, highest 12.17) and female gender (highest 3.19) with increasing pain. Internet-recruited patients were sicker and differed from hardcopy questionnaire patients in their associations with pain. CONCLUSION Pain measures in P-HBI, SF-36 and SIBDQ correlate with psycho-social pathology in CD. Physicians should be aware also of these relationships in approaching CD patients with pain.