QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE

The usual indices of activity of Inflammatory Bowel Disease fail to ev aluate an important aspect of patients' status, their Quality of Life (QOL). A questionnaire dealing with four important aspects of QOL (int estinal and systemic symptoms, emotional and social function) was deve loped and validated. The questionnaire was administered to 72 healthy controls, 57 patients with Ulcerative Colitis and 55 with Crohns Disea se with different disease severity. Compared to controls, QOL was impa ired not only in the more severe forms of disease, but also in patient s in remission. In Crohn's Disease, QOL was not closely correlated wit h the clinical features, thus indicating that the impairment of QOL ca nnot be inferred from the clinical status and that patients do not ''a dapt'' with the passing of time. The questionnaire allows a more compr ehensive definition of the patients' state of health, identifying feat ures which might be underestimated as they fail to emerge from the rou tine clinical evaluation. A tool of this kind could be used alongside the activity index of disease, both in clinical studies and during rou tine follow-up.