P765 Fatigue as one of the most important symptoms in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Croatian tertiary centre pilot study

Abstract

Background Although there have been revolutionary improvements in care of IBD patients, considering the effect of lifelong disease with numerous relapses, one of our goals is to recognise burden of chronic symptoms such as fatigue which can significantly interfere with performance of everyday activities, and negatively impact on quality of life (QoL). Methods Randomly selected IBD patients were invited to anonymously fulfil multiple mixed-methods (quantitave/qualitative) Quality of Life questionnaires (SF-36, IMPACT, SIDBQ, IBD disk) in order to evaluate prevalence of fatigue as well as the variables associated with an increased risk of fatigue (using the Fisher’s exact test). Results The study population included 70 patients (50.7% male, mean age 38.1 years, 55.7% Crohn’s disease). The prevalence of fatigue was 48.6% and variables associated with an increased risk of fatigue were: anxiety/depression (p = 0.002), lower perception of general well-being (p = 0.03), sleep disturbance (p = 0.02), inadequate interpersonal interactions (p = 0.03) and unsatisfactory performance in educational and professional daily activities (p = 0.01). The presence of joint pain as a common extraintestinal manifestation of IBD was not associated with fatigue (p = 0.06). Conclusion Chronic fatigue is a debilitating symptom among adult patients with IBD. Anxiety/depression, lower perception of general well-being, sleep disturbance, inadequate interpersonal interactions and unsatisfactory performance in educational and professional daily activities were associated with fatigue in this Croatian cohort of IBD patients.