title: Health-related quality of life in paediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease related to disease activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and an increased risk of psychosocial problems may encounter children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Generic HRQoL questionnaires, 15D designed for subjects over 16 years of age, 16D for adolescents aged 12-15 and 17D for younger children, allow comparison to healthy peers and have not been used in children with IBD before. Further, in paediatric IBD patients, HRQoL has not been related to disease activity. We evaluated the applicability of 15D, 16D and 17D questionnaires in the paediatric IBD population and examined how HRQoL is influenced by changes in clinical activity of IBD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study subjects recruited at their scheduled, routine appointment in the outpatient clinic of the children's hospital completed the HRQoL questionnaire at baseline and again after 3-5 months. Disease activity was estimated by a three-level scale. The HRQoL of the study population was compared with that of the age-standardised general population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-five children, aged 7-19 years, were recruited. The HRQoL scores strongly correlated with the activity of the disease (P < 0.001). The two oldest age groups with IBD had lower HRQoL scores than age-standardised peers (P= 0.001/0.04). There was no gender difference in HRQoL scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IBD has a considerable impact on the HRQoL of children and adolescents. The generic HRQoL instruments used appeared to be promising tools for examining HRQoL in paediatric IBD patients in different age groups, but larger studies to establish their usefulness in the follow-up of young patients are still warranted.
authors: Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. johanna.haapamaki@hus.fi
authors: Johanna
authors: J
authors: Haapamäki
authors: Risto P
authors: RP
authors: Roine
authors: Harri
authors: H
authors: Sintonen
authors: Kaija-Leena
authors: KL
authors: Kolho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult