Burden of Anxiety, Depression and Perceived Stress in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cohort Study from North India

Patients with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are susceptible to psychiatric co-morbidities. We aimed to ascertain the burden of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress in patients with IBD from north India.

Consenting adult patients with an established diagnosis of IBD were enrolled. The enrolled patients filled the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaires. The patient and disease characteristics were analyzed to determine the correlations and predictors of psychiatric comorbidities.

A total of 318 patients (255 UC, 63 CD; mean age 40.13 ± 12.06 years, 168 [52.8%] males; mean partial Mayo score 2.10 ± 2.35; and mean HBI 2.77 ± 2.13) were enrolled. The prevalence of anxiety, depression and moderate to high perceived stress was 14%, 12%, and 41%, respectively. Females had higher mean perceived stress, anxiety and depression scores compared to males. The partial Mayo score (PMS) correlated poorly with anxiety (ρ = 0.083, p = 0.187), depression (ρ = 0.123, p = 0.49) and perceived stress (ρ = 0.169; p = 0.007). The Harvey Bradshaw index (HBI) correlated fairly with anxiety (ρ = 0.336, p = 0.007) and poorly with depression (ρ = 0.287, p = 0.022) and perceived stress (ρ = 0.20; p = 0.117). Younger age (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.90–0.97; p = 0.001) and hand-grip strength (OR 4.63, 95% CI 1.88–11.42; p = 0.001) predicted anxiety in patients with UC while rural area of residence (OR 4.75, 95% CI 1.03–21.98; p = 0.046) and HBI (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.12–2.29; p = 0.009) were significant predictors of anxiety in patients with CD.

Psychiatric comorbidities are common in patients with IBD, with higher prevalence in females. Young adults with UC and sarcopenia; and individuals with active CD living in rural areas are at an increased risk of anxiety.