Quality of Life in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Is Associated with Affective Temperament Traits: A Cross-Sectional Survey of a Polish Clinical Sample

Background: Affective temperaments can be considered the subclinical manifestations of affective and stress-related disorders, which could have a relationship with many chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of affective temperament traits on disease-specific quality of life in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: The study included 116 patients with IBD - 61 with UC and 55 with CD, with mean age 43 years, in remission, without serious mental or medical co-morbidities. The patients completed the Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis Pisa Paris San Diego-Auto-questionnaire (TEMPS-A), which is the 110-item self-reported assessment for five dimensions of temperament: depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, irritable and anxious, already validated in Poland. For comprehensive assessment of the health-related quality of life (HRQoL), the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) was applied. Results: Mean HRQoL in IBD patients was poor and mean IBDQ scores were 145, despite clinical remission. A significant negative correlation was found between HRQoL in all the IBDQ domains and TEMPS-A traits: D (p<0.001), C (p<0.01), I (p<0.05) and A (p<0.001). No significant correlation between hyperthymic temperament and IBDQ scores was found. Conclusions: Poor quality of life in IBD could be associated with affective temperament. Affective temperament traits should be taken into account when identifying patients at riskof worse IBD course and further introducing the personalized therapy.