Profiles of Disease Burden in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Impact on Psychosocial Adaptation

The chronic recurrence and systemic reaction of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have adverse effects on physical and psychological health of patients, while the patterns of disease burden degree vary among patients with IBD. The perceived disease burden probably affects patients' psychosocial adaptation. This study aimed to use latent profile analysis to understand the patterns of disease burden of Chinese patients with IBD, and explore the relationship between the disease burden profiles and psychosocial adaptation. A total of 260 patients were surveyed on the degree of disease burden and psychosocial adaptation. Latent profile analysis identified two distinct profiles of disease burden, i.e., "high burden - emotional distress & sleep problem group" (51.54%) and "low burden-less social function problems group" (48.46%). The two profiles were significantly different in medical expense payment methods, complications and comorbidities. Patients in the "high burden-emotional distress and sleep problem group" had worse psychosocial adaptation than those in the "low burden-less social function problems group". The study results informed targeted interventions for the subgroups with distinct disease burden characteristics to improve their psychosocial adaptation.