The IBD-disk Is a Reliable Tool to Assess the Daily-life Burden of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Introduction The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-disk is a 10-item self-questionnaire that is used to assess IBD-related disability. The aim of the present study was to evaluate this tool in the assessment of IBD daily-life burden. Patients and methods A one-week cross-sectional study was conducted in 42 centres affiliated in France and Belgium. Patients were asked to complete the IBD-disk (best score: 0, worst score: 100) and a visual analogue scale (VAS) of IBD daily-life burden (best score: 0, worst score: 10). Analyses included internal consistency, correlation analysis and diagnostic performance assessment. Results Among the 2011 IBD outpatients who responded to the survey (67.8% of the patients had Crohn’s disease), 49.9% were in clinical remission. The IBD-disk completion rate was 73.8%. The final analysis was conducted in this population (n= 1455 patients). The mean IBD-disk score and IBD daily-life burden VAS were 39.0 ± 23.2 and 5.2 ± 2.9, respectively. The IBD-disk score was well-correlated with the IBD daily-life burden VAS (r=0.67; p<0.001). At an optimal IBD-disk cut-off of 40, the area under ROC curve (AUROC) for high IBD daily-life burden (VAS>5) was 0.81 (CI95%: 0.79-0.83; p<0.001). Conclusion In a large cohort of patients, the IBD-disk score was well correlated with IBD daily-life burden, and it could be used in clinical practice.

Editorial: determining disability in IBD – ‘See(k) and you shall find’

“…That said, the linearity of correlation between IBD-disk scores has been assessed previously by the authors against quality of life and disease activity scores 6,7 Real-time assessment may unmask functional from inflammatory drivers, bolstering future potential for the IBD-disk to analyse these psychological and somatic co-morbidities.…”

“…4 The IBD-disk is a shortened, self-administered adaptation of the IBD-DI, offering realtime assessment of functional ability in an easy-to visualise format and has recently been validated. 5,6 Building on recent work demonstrating good correlation with daily-life burden, 7 Tannoury et al (the GETAID group) present a cross-sectional survey of 2100 patients, aiming to identify the determinants of IBD disability, using the IBD-disk. 8 Of 1700 reports available (patients completing ≥5 of 10 items from the IBD-disk), 46.6% had moderate-to-severe disability (overall IBD-disk score ≥40).…”

“…The absence of validated scoring systems or biochemical surrogates for active disease might suggest that a proportion of patients in self‐reported remission had underlying disease activity. That said, the linearity of correlation between IBD‐disk scores has been assessed previously by the authors against quality of life and disease activity scores 6,7 Real‐time assessment may unmask functional from inflammatory drivers, bolstering future potential for the IBD‐disk to analyse these psychological and somatic co‐morbidities. Future studies should explore the determinants of disability even in wider population‐based cohorts, wherein the hidden burden of ‘under‐treated’ disease as indeed steroid dependency arguably also exists 9 .…”

“…Building on recent work demonstrating good correlation with daily‐life burden, 7 Tannoury et al (the GETAID group) present a cross‐sectional survey of 2100 patients, aiming to identify the determinants of IBD disability, using the IBD‐disk 8 . Of 1700 reports available (patients completing ≥5 of 10 items from the IBD‐disk), 46.6% had moderate‐to‐severe disability (overall IBD‐disk score ≥40).…”

Editorial: determining disability in inflammatory bowel disease—“See(k) and you shall find”. Authors' reply

“…Disability is a multidimensional concept that includes body functions and structure, activities and participation, personal and environmental factors 3 . Although disability is correlated to disease activity, it also encompasses psychological, social and professional dimensions of the patient’s life as shown in our study 4,5 .…”