Life events stress in ulcerative colitis: A case-control study

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is significantly associated with life events stress. Aim: To investigate the relationship between ulcerative colitis, and life events stress. Methods: A prospective study of 30 patients with ulcerative colitis and 30 healthy controls. A semi-structured psychiatric interview and clinical mental state examination were used in the psychiatric assessment of the patients and controls. Psychiatric diagnoses were made according to ICD-10. A modified version of Life Events Scale by Tennant and Andrews was used in the assessment of life events stress. Results: Life events stress were significantly experienced by more patients than the controls. The total number of life events, the number of individual significant life events and the total number of unpleasant events were all significantly more in patients than the controls. Conclusions: In this study the association between the ulcerative colitis and life events stress is substantiated at all levels. However, further more extensive studies are needed to elucidate the nature of this relationship.