IBDentity: Personality Factors in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract:

Background: Literature has shown a 50% greater lifetime prevalence and increased incidence of personality disorders in those with immune-mediated inflammatory disease (Blaney et al., 2020). Personality characteristics including neuroticism, dependence, and obsessive-compulsiveness have been shown to alter the perception of symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including fatigue (Banovic et al., 2012), influence treatment adherence (Ediger et al., 2007), and increased self-reported disease activity (Feline & Ferrand, 1979).

Methods: This cross-sectional study assesses the prevalence of personality characteristics in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and correlates disease severity with presence of personality traits. Subjects include patients with IBD with endoscopy-confirmed disease. Patients are recruited through searching medical records, volunteering, or being recommended by their physicians. Subjects with complex disease are specifically recruited to ensure representation. Participants complete an online survey that includes the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV (MCMI-IV) to measure personality dimensions and the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ) to measure disease burden and quality of life. The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board. Differences in categorical variables will be compared using the chi-square test and the Mann-Whitney U test will be applied for continuous variables. Hierarchical regression analyses will be performed to test the influence of personality on quality of life as well as personality on disease severity. The regression analyses will be performed separately for patients with Crohn's Disease versus Ulcerative Colitis. Individual results of the MCMI-IV will be provided to the patient in 15 minute sessions with a study research assistant.

Results: Pending study analysis.

Discussion: Pending study analysis.

Conclusions: Pending study analysis.

References:
Blaney, C., Sommer, J., El-Gabalawy, R., Bernstein, C., Walld, R., Hitchon, C., Bolton, J., Sareen, J., Patten, S., Singer, A., Lix, L., Katz, A., Fisk, J., Marrie, R. A., & CIHR Team in Defining the Burden and Managing the Impact of Psychiatric Comorbidity in Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease (2020). Incidence and temporal trends of co-occurring personality disorder diagnoses in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 29, e84.

Banovic, I., Gililbert, D., Jebrane, A., & Cosnes, J. (2012). Personality and fatigue perception in a sample of IBD outpatients in remission: a preliminary study. Journal of Crohn's and colitis, 6(5), 571-577.

Ediger, J. P., Walker, J. R., Graff, L., Lix, L., Clara, I., Rawsthorne, P., Rogala, L., Miller, N., McPhail, C., Deering, K., & Bernstein, C. N. (2007). Predictors of medication adherence in inflammatory bowel disease. The American journal of gastroenterology, 102(7), 1417-1426.

Feline, A., & Ferrand, I. (1979). Aspects psychiatriques de la maladie de Crohn [Psychiatric aspects of Crohn's disease (authors transl)]. La semaine des hopitaux: organe fonde par l'Association d'enseignement medical des hopitaux de Paris, 55(1112), 564-566