Factors associated with quality of life in Italian children and adolescents with IBD

Improving the quality of life (QoL) is crucial in the management of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to (1) Validate the IMPACT-III questionnaire in Italian IBD children; (2) explore factors associated to QoL in pediatric IBD. Internal consistency, concurrent validity, discriminant validity and reproducibility of the Italian version of the IMPACT-III questionnaire was measured in IBD children/adolescents in 8 centers. Associations between patient and disease characteristics and the IMPACT-III domains were analyzed through quantile regression analysis. The IMPACT-III questionnaire, collected in 282 children with IBD (median age: 14.8 years; IQR 12.4-16.4) showed a median total score of 76 (IQR 67-83). Female gender, active disease and age were negatively associated with the total IMPACT-III score. Specifically, female gender was negatively associated with the Bowel/Systemic Symptoms, Emotional and Treatment domain scores, while disease activity was significantly associated with Bowel Symptoms and Treatment/Interventions reported QoL. The IMPACT- III showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.87, 95% CI 0.85-0.89) and reproducibility (Concordance Correlation Coefficient = 0.66, 95% CI 0.57-0.74). In Italian children with IBD active disease, female gender and adolescence are associated to a worse QoL, indicating the need of more attention in this subgroup of young patients. IMPACT-III questionnaire is a reliable instrument to measure QoL in Italian children.