Correlating Quality of Life with Point-of-Care Intestinal Ultrasound in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (CUALITY Study).

BACKGROUND

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) impacts patients' quality of life (QoL), and hence, there is a need to assess this through patient-reported outcomes (PRO). Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is a non-invasive tool for monitoring IBD activity, but little is known about its correlation with PRO. This study explored the cross-sectional relationship between PRO, assessed by the IBD Questionnaire-32 (IBDQ-32), and IUS parameters in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

METHODS

This prospective study included 37 Colombian patients with UC. IUS parameters such as bowel wall thickness (BWT), colour Doppler signal (CDS), and mesenteric fat hypertrophy were assessed, followed by IBDQ-32 completion. Two IUS-experienced gastroenterologists, blinded to the IBDQ- 32, performed the assessments.

RESULTS

In UC, lower IBDQ-32 scores were significantly correlated with increased BWT (p=0.050), presence of CDS (p=0.022), higher Limberg score (p=0.032), and mesenteric fat hypertrophy (p=0.040). The gastrointestinal and systemic symptom dimensions of the IBDQ-32 showed significant correlations with both BWT (p=0.013 and p=0.013) and CDS (p=0.002 and p=0.003), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In UC, IUS parameters are significantly correlated with quality of life, reinforcing the value of IUS as a point-of-care tool.