Short health scale: A valid measure of health-related quality of life in Korean-speaking patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Table 1 Demographic and clinical details of patients n (%)

Variables	UC (n = 139)	CD (n = 117)	P value
Age: yr, median (range)	43 (16-70)	32 (17-60)	< 0.001
Sex, Male	83 (59.7)	81 (69.2)	0.11
Education1			0.04
Junior (education to age 16)	9 (8.5)	2 (1.9)
Graduate (education to age 19)	35 (33.0)	28 (26.9)
Third level education	62 (58.5)	74 (71.2)
Family history2	11 (10.3)	4 (3.9)	0.07
Smoking status3			0.25
Non-smoker	64 (60.4)	64 (63.4)
Ex-smoker	33 (31.1)	23 (22.8)
Smoker	9 (8.5)	14 (13.9)
Disease duration: years, median (range)	6.3 (0.1-26.2)	5.2 (0.1-14.9)	0.06
Disease location
Proctitis (UC)/colon (CD)	39 (28.1)	27 (23.1)
Left sided (UC)/small bowel (CD)	47 (33.8)	27 (23.1)
Pancolitis (UC)/colon+Small bowel (CD)	53 (38.1)	63 (53.8)
Disease activity			0.16
Remission	82 (59.0)	81/117 (69.2)
Mild	42 (30.2)	21/117 (17.9)
Moderate	14 (10.1)	14/117 (11.9)
Severe	1 (0.7)	1/117 (0.8)
Previous surgery4	19 (18.6)	34 (33.3)	0.02
Medication
Azathioprine/6-mercaptopurine	33 (23.7)	72 (61.5)	< 0.001
Anti-TNF	17 (12.2)	31 (26.7)	0.003

Data were available for 210¹, 209², 207³, and 204⁴ patients. CD: Crohn’s disease; UC: Ulcerative colitis; TNF: Tumor necrosis factor.

Table 2 Spearman correlations (r_s) between short health scale items and inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire dimensions

	Symptoms rs	Activities rs	Worry rs	Well-being rs	Total score rs
Crohn’s disease
IBDQ bowel symptoms	-0.66	-0.54	-0.45	-0.52
IBDQ social function	-0.50	-0.71	-0.5	-0.46
IBDQ emotional function	-0.49	-0.59	-0.64	-0.67
IBDQ systemic symptoms	-0.60	-0.61	-0.51	-0.65
Total score					-0.81
Ulcerative colitis
IBDQ bowel symptoms	-0.68	-0.52	-0.49	-0.55
IBDQ social function	-0.55	-0.71	-0.59	-0.56
IBDQ emotional function	-0.47	-0.59	-0.62	-0.62
IBDQ systemic symptoms	-0.45	-0.56	-0.50	-0.52
Total score					-0.71

SHS: Short health scale; IBDQ: Inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire.

Table 3 Responsiveness to change in disease activity in the short health scale

	Stable remission (n = 67)		Change in disease activity (n = 21)
SHS	Remission	Remission	Remission	Mild to moderate
Symptoms	4 (0-35)	7 (0-50)	8.5 (5-45)	15 (2-50)
Activities	3.5 (0-70)	8 (0-60)	10 (0-70)	8.5 (0-60)
Worry	17.5 (0-100)	7.5 (0-100)a	20 (7-70)	27 (7-60)
Well-being	8.5 (0-55)	6 (0-90)	17.5 (3-80)	30 (0-60)
Total score	40 (0-205)	40 (0-210)	59 (24-265)	87 (20-230)

^aP < 0.05 by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. SHS: Short health scale.

Table 4 Influence of other demographic and disease factors on high short health scale score

	Symptoms	Activity	Worry	Well-being
Age < 40 (vs ≥ 40)	2.76 (0.79-9.56)	3.53 (1.18-10.56)	1.06 (0.47-3.28)	1.67 (0.70-3.94)
Sex, Female (vs male)	0.85 (0.25-2.90)	3.70 (0.98-7.45)	1.79 (0.83-3.85)	2.28 (1.02-5.08)
Education, beyond high school (vs junior school)	0.33 (0.02-5.51)	1.73 (0.25-11.95)	4.74 (1.06-21.2)	1.31 (0.22-7.75)
Smoking (vs non or ex-smoking)	3.79 (0.86-16.43)	3.43 (0.92-12.77)	1.02 (0.33-3.16)	2.78 (0.94-8.21)
Family history (vs no)	0.34 (0.06-1.92)	1.93 (0.20-18.62)	0.50 (0.14-1.80)	0.41 (0.10-1.59)
Disease, CD (vs UC)	0.54 (0.15-1.91)	0.52 (1.17-1.54)	0.81 (0.35-1.88)	1.41 (0.58-3.43)
Disease duration ≥ 5 yr (vs < 5 yr)	1.33 (0.45-3.89)	2.12 (0.81-5.52)	2.98 (1.43-6.20)	1.62 (0.77-3.45)
Anti-TNF use (vs no)	0.81 (0.18-3.59)	1.69 (0.53-5.44)	2.56 (1.06-6.22)	1.01 (0.48-2.68)
Azathioprine use (vs no)	0.55 (0.16-1.91)	1.39 (0.49-3.94)	1.39 (0.62-3.08)	1.69 (0.72-3.96)
Bowel operation history (vs no)	1.19 (0.28-4.94)	1.80 (0.50-6.47)	0.91 (0.40-2.06)	1.09 (0.44-2.68)
Disease activity, moderate to severe (vs mild or remission)	16.6 (4.19-66.18)	8.02 (2.43-26.43)	12.56 (3.66-43.09)	6.03 (1.98-18.40)

SHS: Short health scale; CD: Crohn’s disease; UC: Ulcerative colitis; TNF: Tumor necrosis factor.