Awareness and cognition of illness in Saudi Arabian patients with Crohn's disease

BACKGROUND: Crohn's disease (CD) is a progressive illness associated with high morbidity owing to the complications associated with the condition. Patients' awareness and cognition of such complications may carry significant psychological impact. The aim of this study is to assess the illness cognition of Saudi patients diagnosed with CD and to identify clinical associations. METHODS: Adult patients with CD were asked to complete an illness cognition questionnaire (ICQ) between January and December of 2019. Additional data was extracted from the medical records. The ICQ composed of three domains: Helplessness (6 items), acceptance (6 items), and perceived benefits (6 items). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient characteristics and a linear regression analysis was used to identify associations with the ICQ score. RESULTS: A total of 88 patients were included, of which 55.8% were females, 18% were smokers, and 11.5% had undergone CD-related surgery. The mean age was 26.9 ± 7.7 years and the mean duration of disease was 54.7 ± 60.5 months. The mean score was 17.4 ± 3.6 for the helplessness domain, 13.4 ± 3.6 for the acceptance domain, and 13.5 ± 3.5 for the perceived benefits domain. We found associations between abdominal pain and acceptance (P = 0.048), extra intestinal manifestations and perceived benefit (P = 0.001), and treatment with mesalamine and helplessness (P = 0.03). In a linear regression analysis, albumin level was the only factor associated with helplessness (coef = 0.18, P = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: A considerable proportion of Saudi patients diagnosed with CD generally reported a negative perception of their disease. Albumin level was associated with helplessness.