Sedentary Behavior Is Independently Associated With Quality Of Life In People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a severe gastrointestinal disease, affects 700,000 people in the US. IBD is thought to reduce quality of life (QOL) and currently there is no medical cure. PURPOSE: To investigate whether sedentary behavior was associated with QOL independent of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in people with IBD, and whether resilience mediated this relationship. METHODS: 185 participants with IBD (81.6% female; 54.7% in remission; mean±SD: age 37.2±12.7 y; physical QOL 42.7±9.3; mental QOL 38.4±11.7; resilience 65.7±13.7) completed an online-survey consisting of the Short Form-36 (SF-36), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) to assess QOL, MVPA, and resilience, respectively. Multiple regression analyses examined the associations between sedentary behavior and physical and mental QOL, with MVPA, disease state, age, sex, and resilience as covariates. RESULTS: On average, participants spent 436.3 min/week sitting and 98.4 min/week in MVPA. Sedentary behavior was independently associated with physical QOL after adjusting for MVPA, disease state, age, and sex (R2=.28, β=-.22, p=.01). This association was slightly attenuated but remained significant when resilience was entered into the model (R2=.29, β=-.21, p=.03). Sedentary behavior was independently associated with mental QOL after adjusting for MVPA, disease state, age, and sex (R2=.21, β=-.23, p=.01). This association was no longer significant with the addition of resilience, suggesting it is a mediating variable (R2=.35, β=-.09, p=.29). CONCLUSIONS: We are the first to show that sedentary behavior is associated with both physical and mental QOL independent of MVPA in people with IBD. However, resilience mediates the relationship between MVPA and mental QOL in these patients. Thus, decreasing sedentary behavior and increasing resilience may be advantageous for improving QOL in people with IBD. Funded by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) Student Research Grant