The impact of stress and personality on resilience of patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Objective: To study relevant factors that influence psychological resilience in patients with ulcerative colitis(UC), especially the role of perceived stress and personality. Methods: Patients with UC were recruited from January 2015 to December 2016 in the First Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Education levels, income, duration of disease, Mayo score and disease phenotype according to Montreal classification were collected. Resilience was measured using Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). Perceived stress was measured by perceived stress scale (PSS). Personality was evaluated using Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ). Univariate analyses were conducted to determine the correlation of variables with resilience and thereafter those statistically significant were reanalyzed via a multivariate regression model. Results: A total of 188 patients with UC were finally recruited. Univariate analyses demonstrated resilience was inversely associated with perceived stress, Mayo score and neuroticism. Extraversion, income, college education were positively related to resilience. However, multivariate analyses revealed that perceived stress(OR=0.901, 95%CI 0.833-0.975), extraversion (OR=1.257, 95%CI 1.087-1.454), neuroticism (OR=0.818, 95%CI 0.679-0.985), Mayo score (OR=0.856, 95%CI 0.742-0.988) and income (OR=6.411, 95%CI 2.136-9.244) were significantly related to resilience. Conclusions: Resilience of UC patients is not only associated with disease activity, but also with personality, perceived stress and income.