Stressful life events and psychosocial correlates of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease activity.

Aim: To investigate the association of psychiatric and psychosocial correlates with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity in children and adolescents.

Methods: A total of 85 pediatric IBD patients (in remission or active state of the disease) and their parents completed a series of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews measuring life events, depression, anxiety, family dysfunction, and parent mental health. Differences between the remission and the IBD active group and the association of any significant variable with the disease activity state were examined.

Results: Parents of children being in active state of the disease reported more life events (P = 0.005) and stressful life events (P = 0.048) during the past year and more mental health symptoms (P < 0.001), while the children themselves reported higher levels of anxiety symptoms (P = 0.017) compared to the remission group. In the logistic regression multivariate analysis, the only predictor which had a significant positive effect on the probability of the patients being in active state was parent mental health symptoms (OR = 4.8; 95%CI: 1.2-25.8).

Conclusion: Life events, child anxiety and parent mental health symptoms may be important correlates of pediatric IBD activity and targets of thorough assessment and treatment.