Psychological characteristics of patients with inflammatory bowel disease during the first wave of COVID-19

Introduction
Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC)) are chronic, immune-mediated diseases with unclear aetiology, characterized by relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. These conditions significantly impair patients’ physical and mental condition and quality of life.

Aim
To investigate the impact of the current pandemic situation on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients’ psychological status and to determine factors that mediate the level of depression, anxiety, and health-related quality of life.

Material and methods
This was a multicentre, observational, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. A total of 206 participants (male: 34%) were involved. The online survey consisted of 8 different psychological measures (such as depression, anxiety, coronavirus distress, health-related quality of life, etc.) and other therapy-specific and sociodemographic factors.

Results
28.2% of respondents showed depressive symptoms and 11.2% indicated moderate to severe anxiety. Also, 27.7% revealed mild, moderate, or severe distress regarding the coronavirus situation. According to regression analysis, anxiety and coronavirus distress are mostly influenced by psychological factors. In contrast, the changes in quality of life and depression can be explained by disease-specific and psychological factors as well.

Conclusions
Patients need more attention during this period to help them cope with psychological factors and prevent their IBD from becoming worse.