Impact of Depression on Health-Related Quality of Life in Ulcerative Colitis Patients—Are We Doing Enough? A Single Tertiary Center Experience

Ulcerative colitis (UC) significantly impacts patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study aimed to evaluate HRQOL and the factors affecting it, and the prevalence of anxiety, depression and alexythimia in patients with UC. This cross-sectional study included 248 UC patients (21 with proctitis, 63 with left-sided UC and 164 with extensive colitis). Data were collected using standardized self-administered questionnaires [a socio-demographic questionnaire, General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ)]. Clinical data on remission status, extraintestinal manifestations, comorbidities and the use of advanced therapies were also collected. Hierarchical regression analysis of variables predicting SIBDQ score was done. Clinical and laboratory remission was present in 95.6% of the patients. The prevalences of depression, anxiety and alexithymia were 44.7%, 34.3% and 30.2%, respectively. There were no differences in the PHQ-9, GAD-7 and TAS-20 scores in relation to remission status. The average SIBDQ score was 56.5. The patients in remission reported better SIBDQ scores compared to the symptomatic patients (<i>p</i> = 0.002). The hierarchical regression analysis showed that remission of disease and a higher depression score influenced HRQOL in the UC patients. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and alexithymia in the UC patients was high. Remission of disease and a high depression score were the main factors related to HRQOL.