Influential factors on disease activity in Crohn’s disease and their Roc curve evaluation: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective This study aims to investigate the factors influencing disease activity in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and provide insights and references for the management and prevention of CD. Methods We recruited CD patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from November 2022 to June 2023. Generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the factors affecting disease activity in CD patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was employed to assess the predictive value of these factors for disease activity. Results A total of 268 CD participants aged 18 to 65 were included in the study, with over 68% of them in remission or experiencing mild disease activity, indicating relatively good disease control. The results of the generalized linear mixed models showed that older age, absence of diabetes, high levels of physical activity, and a low dietary inflammatory index (DII) were protective factors for lower disease activity in CD patients (p < 0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that physical activity level, age, and DII all had ROC areas greater than 0.6 in predicting disease activity in CD patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion The factors influencing the disease activity of CD patients are numerous and should be given attention. CD patients who are younger, have low levels of physical activity, high DII, and have diabetes are at a higher risk of increased disease activity. By reducing or avoiding the mentioned risk factors and leveraging protective factors, it is possible to mitigate the disease activity of CD to some extent.