Assessment of quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome versus ulcerative colitis

Background. Both organic and functional disordersarehealth problem, affectingthe quality of life (QoL)andinvolving high costs. Aim: to evaluate and compare theimpact on the QoL of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) an organicdisorderand diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (d-IBS) - a functionaldisorder. Materials and methods: prospective study, that included 135 patientsdividedinto 2 groups: group A-72UC patients and groupB- 63 d-IBS patients. QoL wasassessed by the SF-32 (Short Form-32), one ofthe most widely usedgeneric instrumentfor measuringphysical and mentalhealth. Results. Group A was consisted of 26 UC male (36.1%) and46female patients(63.9%), age range 18-62 years (average = 39.50 +/- 12.24). 2 patients(2.8%) were in remission, 29 (40.3%) had mild diseaseactivity, 35 (48.6%) -moderate activityand6 (8.3%) had severe diseaseactivity. Group B consisted of 14 d-IBS male (22.2%) and 49female (77.8%), age range19-59years (average = 39.57 +/- 11.01).According tothe results ofthe SF-36, UCpatientshad asignificantly lowerscoreofthe physical componentofQoL(p <0.001) compared with d-IBS patients. Patients inremissionhadhigher scorescompared to patientswith severedisease(p <0.001).For d-IBS patients, the mental component of Q o L was in a more severe condition. Conclusions. The QoL is affected both in UC and d-IBS patients. Patientswith d-IBS appear to be moresensitive tothe effects of psychosocial variables on gastrointestinal symptoms compared with patients with UC whose QoL was severely affectedby the physical componentof the disease.