Long-term psychosocial outcomes reported by children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the self-reported psychosocial functioning of children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to that of healthy children in the areas of behavioral/emotional functioning, social competence, self-esteem, stress coping strategies, and social support. METHODS: Participants were 50 children with IBD diagnosed at least 1 yr before enrollment, and 42 healthy comparison children aged 11-17 yr. They completed a series of well-validated questionnaires assessing psychosocial functioning. The treating gastroenterologists of participating children with IBD completed the Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index during a clinic visit within a week of completion of the questionnaires. RESULTS: Mean scores fell in the normal range on all normed measures, and there were no significant differences between group means on any of the measures. A subset of 20% of children with IBD reported clinically significant behavioral/emotional symptoms, even a year after diagnosis, which was similar to results found in the healthy comparison group. Most children with IBD were in remission or had mild disease activity at the time of the study. Neither past nor current disease factors differentiated those with significant emotional problems. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that most children with currently mild IBD who have been diagnosed for at least a year report normal psychosocial functioning that is similar to that of healthy children. A subset of these children report significant behavioral/emotional difficulty, and future research should seek to identify which children are most at risk for these problems and how best to intervene.