Introduction

Mental health is an overlooked aspect of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patient care and the most common psychological conditions in patients with IBD are anxiety and depression¹. The objective of this study was to examine the possible factors that will impact mental health burden of CD patients in Europe.

Aims & Methods

A multi-centre online medical chart review study of patients with CD was conducted between Jul – Sep 2022 among UK, FR, DE, IT & ES gastroenterologists practicing across hospital and private practices. Physicians were screened for practice duration and patient volume. Charts of patients prescribed with advanced therapy were included in the analysis.

Results

206 sampled physicians collectively reported 1178 CD patients. From the reported CD patients, 190 suffered mental health burden (depression or anxiety) and 988 CD patients did not suffered any mental health burden. Among CD patients suffered mental health burden, a higher proportion of CD patients are female vs those who did not suffered any (55% vs 46%). ‘Family history of IBD’ was the co-morbidity more likely to experience in reported CD patients suffered mental health burden vs those who did not (11% vs 7%).
When looking at employment status between these two patient groups, reported CD patients suffer mental health burden was less likely to be in full-time employment vs those not suffered mental health burden. A higher proportion of reported CD patients suffered mental health burden were in part-time employment or housewife/househusband.

Table 1: Employment status in reported CD patients (% patients)

CD patients	Suffered mental health burden	NOT suffered mental health burden
% full-time employment	47%	62%
% part-time employment	22%	14%
% housewife/ husband	8%	4%

CD patients with mental health burden had greater CRP level than patients without mental health burden (CRP mean: 16 vs 12). This aligns with reported CD patients with mental health burden had frequent surgery times vs without mental health burden (Mean surgery times: 2 vs 1) and had greater steroid usage (% reported patients currently on steroids – 18% vs 13%).

Conclusion

Comparisons in this study cohort highlight there are other factors could impact CD patients’ mental health burden other than IBD itself. This coincided with low full-time employment rate that attributed to financial stress may increase CD patients’ mental health burden. Also, higher rate of surgery and steroid usage in CD patients experienced mental health burden might suggest they had more severe or complications with their disease that will impact overall mental health. Further investigation using comparator cohort is warranted.

References

1. Shurong Hu, Yiping Chen, Yan Chen & Caihua Wang (2021): Depression and Anxiety Disorders in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, NCBI, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.714057

Clinical Case Summary

A 72-year-old man with a 49-year history of ulcerative colitis (UC), characterized as pancolitis and steroid-dependent, underwent routine surveillance colonoscopy. A congested, ulcerated mass was found in the recto-anal region, with no signs of active colitis in the rest of the colon.
From 2000–2012, he was treated with infliximab, discontinued due to secondary failure, followed by azathioprine (2012–2017), which was stopped due to leukopenia. Since then, he has been on vedolizumab. His medical history also includes hypertension and previous tobacco use.
The patient had been in clinical and biochemical remission for the last two years. Given his long-standing UC and the resection of a lateral spreading tumor (LST) via mucosectomy in 2019 showing hyperplastic mucosa with a focus of low-grade dysplasia, he has been under annual endoscopic surveillance.
At the current exam, a large exophytic, ulcerated mass with superficial necrosis and fibrin (Kudo IV) was seen in the recto-anal region, occupying approximately 1/6 of the luminal circumference and bleeding spontaneously.
Histology revealed a poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) with a high proliferative index (Ki-67: 60%). Staging workup, including CT, pelvic MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound, identified a suspicious regional lymph node, that was confirmed by FDG-PET to be metabolically active.
After multidisciplinary discussion, the decision was made to start systemic chemotherapy without delay. If the patient responds, a total proctocolectomy with permanent ileostomy will be considered.
This case is notable for the rarity of recto-anal NECs, especially in UC patients. Their poor prognosis and unclear association with long-term UC or immunosuppressive treatment complicate management and raise important clinical questions.

References

Images that will be uploaded are: endoscopic findings of the colonic mass, histological specimens of the NEC, radiologic findings (PET)