Is disease activity associated with social support and psychological distress in Crohn’s disease patients? Results of a cross-sectional study in a Chinese hospital population

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study aims to assess the relative of social support and psychological distress in disease activity among patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) in China, and explore whether sex moderates the relationship between disease activity and social support and psychological distress in CD.DesignOur study has a cross-sectional design.SettingThis was a single-centre study, which was conducted in Wuhan, China.ParticipantsA total of 184 patients with CD at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology were enrolled in this study; of these,162 patients were included in the final analysis.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe main study outcome was the CD patients’ clinical and questionnaire data. The association of disease activity, social support and psychological distress with patients with CD was also evaluated based on the collected data.ResultsA total of 162 patients with CD were enrolled. Compared with patients with CD in remission (CD-R), the patients with CD in activity (CD-A) had higher C reactive protein (CRP) (p=0.001), anaemia (p<0.001) and relapse rates in the last year (p<0.001). Independent samples t-tests indicated that the CD-A group reported lower Social Support Rating Scale scores and higher Symptom Checklist-90 scores than the CD-R group. Moreover, men with CD had lower somatisation (p=0.030) and anxiety (p=0.050) scores than women. In binary logistic regression models, the subjective support (beta=0.903, p=0.013), the clinical factors of CRP (beta=1.038, p=0.001) and psychological distress factors of anxiety (beta=1.443, p=0.008) and other (beta=1.235, p=0.042) were disease activity predictors.ConclusionThe findings highlight the importance of the psychological distress and social support factors that may play a role in CD patients’ health. Interventions to address these issues should be part of management in CD.

A potential brain functional biomarker distinguishing patients with Crohn’s disease with different disease stages: a resting-state fMRI study

“…Moreover, patients with CD typically require lifelong medication, which seriously affects their quality of life and increases psychological distress. The previous studies have found that disease activity in CD patients is associated with psychological disorders ( Huang et al, 2023 ). Thus, the search for effective biomarker is essential for distinguishing the CD-A and CD-R to implementation of effective interventions.…”