Department of Gastroenterology and Endocrinology, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping University, Sweden. Henrik.Hjortswang@lio.se
The characteristic clinical symptoms of collagenous colitis are non-bloody diarrhoea, urgency and abdominal pain. Treatment is aimed at reducing the symptom burden and the disease impact on patients' health-related quality of life. The objective of this study was to analyse health-related quality of life in patients with collagenous colitis.
In a cross-sectional, postal HRQL survey, 116 patients with collagenous colitis at four Swedish hospitals completed four health-related quality of life questionnaires, two disease-specific (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire and Rating Form of IBD Patient Concerns), and two generic (Short Form 36, SF-36, and Psychological General Well-Being, PGWB), and a one-week symptom diary. Demographic and disease-related data were collected. Results for the collagenous colitis population were compared with a background population controlled for age and gender (n = 8931).
Compared with a Swedish background population, patients with collagenous colitis scored significantly worse in all Short Form 36 dimensions (p