Denise Keegan1, Kathryn Byrne1, Garret Cullen1, Glen A Doherty1, Barbara Dooley1, Hugh E Mulcahy2. 1. Centre for Colorectal Disease, St Vincent's University Hospital/University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. 2. Centre for Colorectal Disease, St Vincent's University Hospital/University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland hemulc@hotmail.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Psychological stress is associated with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], but the nature of this relationship is complex. At present, there is no simple tool to screen for stress in IBD clinical practice or assess stress repeatedly in longitudinal studies. Our aim was to design a single-question 'stressometer' to rapidly measure stress and validate this in IBD patients. METHODS: In all, 304 IBD patients completed a single-question 'stressometer'. This was correlated with stress as measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales [DASS-21], quality of life, and disease activity. Test-retest reliability was assessed in 31 patients who completed the stressometer and the DASS-21 on two occasions 4 weeks apart. RESULTS: Stressometer levels correlated with the DASS-21 stress dimension in both Crohn's disease [CD] (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient [rs] 0.54; p < 0.001) and ulcerative colitis [UC] [rs 0.59; p < 0.001]. Stressometer levels were less closely associated with depression and anxiety [rs range 0.36 to 0.49; all p-values < 0.001]. Stressometer scores correlated with all four Short Health Scale quality of life dimensions in both CD and UC [rs range 0.35 to 0.48; all p-values < 0.001] and with disease activity in Crohn's disease [rs 0.46; p < 0.001] and ulcerative colitis [rs 0.20; p = 0.02]. Responsiveness was confirmed with a test-retest correlation of 0.43 [p = 0.02]. CONCLUSIONS: The stressometer is a simple, valid, and responsive measure of psychological stress in IBD patients and may be a useful patient-reported outcome measure in future IBD clinical and research assessments.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Psychological stress is associated with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], but the nature of this relationship is complex. At present, there is no simple tool to screen for stress in IBD clinical practice or assess stress repeatedly in longitudinal studies. Our aim was to design a single-question 'stressometer' to rapidly measure stress and validate this in IBDpatients. METHODS: In all, 304 IBDpatients completed a single-question 'stressometer'. This was correlated with stress as measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales [DASS-21], quality of life, and disease activity. Test-retest reliability was assessed in 31 patients who completed the stressometer and the DASS-21 on two occasions 4 weeks apart. RESULTS: Stressometer levels correlated with the DASS-21 stress dimension in both Crohn's disease [CD] (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient [rs] 0.54; p < 0.001) and ulcerative colitis [UC] [rs 0.59; p < 0.001]. Stressometer levels were less closely associated with depression and anxiety [rs range 0.36 to 0.49; all p-values < 0.001]. Stressometer scores correlated with all four Short Health Scale quality of life dimensions in both CD and UC [rs range 0.35 to 0.48; all p-values < 0.001] and with disease activity in Crohn's disease [rs 0.46; p < 0.001] and ulcerative colitis [rs 0.20; p = 0.02]. Responsiveness was confirmed with a test-retest correlation of 0.43 [p = 0.02]. CONCLUSIONS: The stressometer is a simple, valid, and responsive measure of psychological stress in IBDpatients and may be a useful patient-reported outcome measure in future IBD clinical and research assessments.
Authors: Joseph Lavelle; Darragh Storan; Varsha Eswara Murthy; Noemi De Dominicis; Hugh E Mulcahy; Louise McHugh Journal: J Clin Med Date: 2022-05-13 Impact factor: 4.964
Authors: Shawn M Neff; Rebecca L Deyo; Annabelle L Mac Auley; Dana J Lawrence Journal: J Manipulative Physiol Ther Date: 2022-06-24 Impact factor: 1.300