BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The prevalence and risk factors of fatigue and sleep disturbances in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and their impact on the quality of life (QOL) are largely underreported in the developing world, where IBD is on the rise.

METHODS

Consecutive patients attending the IBD clinic were interviewed between November 2021 and March 2022 using an assisted questionnaire (English, Hindi and Telugu versions)(including demographics, disease activity, QOL, IBD fatigue score [IBD-F], Hospital anxiety and depression score: [HADS], Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index: [PSQI]). Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors of fatigue and sleep disturbance. A correlational analysis between mental health factors and QOL was performed.

RESULTS

AS many as 202 IBD patients (age 18-78 [median 31] years, 65.8% male) completed the questionnaires. Fatigue and sleep disturbances were highly prevalent (55.9% and 53.4%, respectively). On multi-variate analysis, depression (p = 0.008, odds ratio [OR] -1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] -1.09-1.75), active disease (p = 0.001,OR-8.81,95% CI- 2.49-31.23) and poor sleep (p = 0.009, OR-1.17, 95% CI:1.04-1.31) were predictive of fatigue, whereas depression (p < 0.001,OR-1.32,95% CI-1.19-1.46) and active disease (p < 0.001,OR-6.77, 95% CI-2.67-17.17) were predictive of sleep disturbance. On sub-group analysis, poor sleep quality and lack of renumeration predicted fatigue, whereas old age and female gender predicted poor sleep quality in Crohn's disease (CD). QOL (Short IBD questionnaire: [SIBDQ]) scores had a strong and moderate negative correlation with IBD-F (r = -0.735, p < 0.0001) and PSQI (r = -0.682, p < 0.001) scores, respectively. The results should be interpreted in the context of lack of validated translated questionnaires in all native languages in a multilingual country. Translational assistance was provided to overcome the limitation.

CONCLUSION

Fatigue and sleep disturbances are highly prevalent in Indian IBD patients. Apart from modulation of disease activity, screening those with mental health illness may help improve fatigue/sleep quality and overall QOL.