Health-related quality of life and psychosocial functioning of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease.
BACKGROUND
This study aimed to study how inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during adolescence and to examine how self-esteem influences HRQoL.


METHODS
We compared self-esteem, anxiety, and parental reports on behavioral problems in a group of IBD patients to a healthy norm group. Forty children and 38 parents filled out questionnaires separately. Trait anxiety, self-perception, and the data on the Child Behavior Checklist were taken to compare the IBD population with healthy norms, using Student's t tests and 1-sample t tests. Effect sizes were calculated to show the clinical relevance of the differences. Multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the association between disease-related variables and self-perception with HRQoL, anxiety, and problem behavior.


RESULTS
The results of this study show that adolescents with IBD, especially boys, have a significantly worse HRQoL and show more internalizing problem behavior compared with healthy peers. An important predictor of HRQoL is self-esteem.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, adolescents with IBD are at risk for experiencing problems with their illness. Because self-esteem is an important predictor of HRQoL, it should be taken into account in future interventions for these children.
De Boer
Mariike
M
Pediatric Psychosocial Department, Emma Children's Hospital, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Grootenhuis
Martha
M
Derkx
Bert
B
Last
Bob
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires