Health-related quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease measured with the generic 15D instrument

In many surveys, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been shown to have a negative impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), especially when the disease is active. The purpose of this study was to compare a disease-specific HRQoL tool (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, IBDQ) and a generic HRQoL tool (15D) in a large cohort of IBD patients, to assess the ability of the 15D to detect differences in HRQoL between disease states and to compare the HRQoL of IBD patients with that of the general population. The study population comprised 2,931 IBD patients over 18 picked from a national Social Insurance Institute register and from a patient organization register. The 15D data for the general population came from the National Health 2000 Health Examination Survey. For patients with IBD, the 15D tool was feasible and had good discriminatory power. The total 15D score was significantly higher among patients with less active disease estimated by frequency of IBD symptoms and was strongly correlated with total IBDQ score. The general population scored significantly higher than did the study subjects on most of the 15D dimensions. The 15D was a fast and easy-to-apply method for the examination of HRQoL in IBD patients. In addition to HRQoL studies it could be used in everyday practice as well. Patients with IBD have worse HRQoL than do gender- and age-standardized controls.