Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2015; 21(19): 6001-6007
Published online May 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i19.6001
Assessment of disease specific knowledge and health-related quality of life among United States military veterans with inflammatory bowel disease
Jason K Hou, Joshua A Turkeltaub, Thomas R McCarty III, Hashem B El-Serag
Jason K Hou, Hashem B El-Serag, Houston VA HSRD Center of Excellence, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Jason K Hou, Hashem B El-Serag, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Jason K Hou, Hashem B El-Serag, Department of Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Joshua A Turkeltaub, Department of Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
Thomas R McCarty III, Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, United States
Author contributions: Hou JK contributed in design, content, analyses, and primary authorship of manuscript; Turkeltaub JA contributed in data extraction, analyses, and editorial input in the manuscript; McCarty III TR contributed in data extraction, analyses, and editorial input in the manuscript; El-Serag HB contributed in study design, data interpretation, and editorial input in the manuscript; Turkeltaub JA and McCarty III TR contributed equally to this work.
Supported by American College of Gastroenterology Junior Faculty Development Award (Hou) and with resources at the VA HSRD Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety No. CIN 13-413, at the Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX (Hou).
Ethics approval: This study was conducted with the approval of the Baylor College of Medicine Institutional Review Board and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center Office of Research in Houston, Texas.
Informed consent: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no disclosures relevant to this manuscript.
Data sharing: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jason K Hou, MD, Department of Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, One Baylor Plaza, BCM901, Houston, TX 77030, United States. jkhou@bcm.edu
Telephone: +1-713-7980950 Fax: +1-713-7980951
Received: November 9, 2014
Peer-review started: November 10, 2014
First decision: December 11, 2014
Revised: January 9, 2015
Accepted: February 5, 2015
Article in press: February 5, 2015
Published online: May 21, 2015
Processing time: 192 Days and 9.8 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the association between patient disease knowledge of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and health related quality of life (HRQoL) and identify patient and disease related predictors of patient knowledge of IBD.

METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of IBD patients with an established diagnosis of IBD longer than 3 mo prior to enrollment. The Crohn’s and colitis knowledge score (CCKNOW) and short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (SIBDQ) were self-administered to assess patient knowledge of IBD and HRQoL, respectively. Demographic and disease characteristics were abstracted from the electronic medical record. The correlation between CCKNOW and SIBDQ scores was assessed by a linear regression model. Associations of patient knowledge and the variables of interest were calculated using ANOVA.

RESULTS: A total of 101 patients were recruited. Caucasian race, younger age at diagnosis, and having a college or post-graduate degree were significantly associated with higher CCKNOW scores. Patients with CD had higher CCKNOW scores compared to patients with ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease type unclassified, P < 0.01. There was no significant correlation between overall CCKNOW and SIBDQ scores (r2 = 0.34, P = 0.13). The knowledge sub-domain of diet in CCKNOW was negatively correlated with HRQoL (r2 = 0.69, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: IBD diagnosis at a younger age in addition to Caucasian race and higher education were significantly associated with higher knowledge about IBD. However, patient knowledge of IBD was not correlated with HRQoL. Further studies are required to study the effect of patient knowledge of IBD on other clinical outcomes.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis; Crohn’s and Colitis Knowledge Score; Short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire; Health related quality of life

Core tip: No prior study on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has attempted to determine if there is a correlation between a patient’s knowledge about his/her disease and their health related quality of life. Furthermore, no such study attempting to quantify a patient’s knowledge of their IBD has been performed in the United States. While we found no statistically significant association, we did find several predictors of a patient’s knowledge about their disease as well as disparities in knowledge. Through this study, we hope to bring to light these predictors and disparities in hopes of providing targeted opportunities for patient directed education tools.