COVID-19 Pandemic's Effects on Disease and Psychological Outcomes of People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Portugal: A Preliminary Research.
Inflamm Bowel Dis
; 27(8): 1224-1229, 2021 07 27.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-846423
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
No empirical research on the psychological impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on people living with IBD, a population known to typically present high levels of anxiety and depression and to be potentially vulnerable to COVID-19, has yet been conducted. This study aimed to explore the links between contextual variables related to the COVID-19 pandemic and disease and psychological outcomes.METHODS:
The sample included 124 Portuguese patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (85.48% women) who completed self-reported measures in an online survey during April 2020.RESULTS:
Fear of contracting COVID-19 and medication adherence were both high and unrelated. About half of the sample presented moderate (37.10%) to severe (14.50%) anxiety. Normal and mild anxiety levels were at 29.80% and 18.50%, respectively. Regarding depressive symptoms, 51.60% of the sample presented normal levels, 27.40% mild severity, 16.10% moderate, and 4.8% severe. No differences were found between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients. Regression analyses showed that anxiety explained IBD symptom perception (ß = 0.29; P = 0.022); fear of contracting COVID-19 (ß = 0.35; P < 0.001) and IBD symptom perception (ß = -0.22; P = 0.009) explained depressive symptoms; and fear of contracting COVID-19 (ß = 0.41; P < 0.001), IBD symptom perception (ß = 0.26, P < 0.001), and being in isolation (ß = -0.16, P = 0.041) explained anxiety. Type of medication was not linked to these outcomes.CONCLUSIONS:
The COVID-19 pandemic does not seem to be affecting adherence to medication but seems to present relevant effects on psychological well-being. Inflammatory bowel disease health care professionals should be attentive of patients' psychological response to this pandemic and of its possible consequences on disease expression. This study additionally provided a psychometrically sound measure of fear of contracting COVID-19.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety
/
Stress, Psychological
/
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
/
Depression
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Inflamm Bowel Dis
Journal subject:
Gastroenterology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ibd
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