The influence of sleep factors and dietary habits on the disease pattern of ulcerative colitis patients with long and short disease courses - a multicentre cross-sectional analysis

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a disease characterized by chronic relapsing-remitting inflammatory disorders and is associated with environmental changes. Aim: To explore the disease patterns of Chinese UC patients and to determine controllable related environmental factors. Methods: This multicentre cross-sectional study was performed using a questionnaire survey. Data on clinical characteristics and environmental factors were collected. Patients with a disease course >= 5 years were defined as the long course group, and those with a disease course < 5 years were defined as the short course group. Results: A total of 588 effective questionnaires were collected. The proportion of the chronic continuous pattern was the highest among patients with a long disease course (46.8%), and in patients with a short disease course, the proportion of the active to remission pattern was the highest (53.3%). In patients with a long disease course, a higher proportion of patients with adequate sleep was found in the active to remission pattern than in the chronic intermittent (72.1% vs. 43.3%, p = 0.008) and chronic continuous (72.1% vs. 52.4%, p = 0.016) patterns. In patients with a short disease course, the frequency of shellfish and shrimp was higher in the chronic continuous pattern group than in the active to remission pattern group (P = 0.001 and 0.017 respectively). Conclusions: For early diagnosis patients, dietary guidance should be actively carried out. With the prolongation of the disease course, attention should be given to the sleep quality of patients.