Determinants of the level of anxiety and fears in a group of patients with ulcerative colitis.

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic, inflammatory disease of the mucous membrane of the large intestine manifesting itself through diarrhoea with blood, mucous and pus. It progresses with periods of relapses and remissions. The treatment is a long-term process which should aim at improving the patient's clinical condition and quality of life, as well as minimising the disease-related anxiety and fears. The aim of the study was recognition of the determinants of the level of anxiety and fears in a group of patients with ulcerative colitis. The prospective study comprised 102 patients with diagnosed ulcerative colitis. The data were collected by means of the following tools: Clinical Disease Activity Index, Rating Form of IBD Patients Concerns (RFIPC), and a questionnaire by the authors. Statistical parametric and non-parametric tests were used to analyse the data, depending on the type of scale and nature of the variable distribution. Most of the patients (64%) were in the active phase of the disease. A high level of fear and anxiety occurred in 73% of the patients and concerned the impact of the disease, intimate life, complications and stigmatisation. The highest levels of fears and anxiety were observed in the field of complications and the impact of the disease on the patients' lives. The disease activity and high levels of anxiety and fears influenced the psychosocial functioning of the patients with ulcerative colitis.