Real-world data about emotional stress, disability and need for social care in a German IBD patient cohort

To date, there is insufficient insight into inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated stress, recognized disability, and contact with the social care system. We aimed to assess these parameters in IBD patients and a non-IBD control group, who were invited to participate in an online survey developed specifically for this study (www.soscisurvey.de) with the help of IBD patients. 505 IBD patients and 166 volunteers (i.e., control group) participated in the survey. IBD patients reported significantly increased levels of stress within the last six months and five years (p<0.0001) and were more likely to have a recognized disability (p<0.0001). A low academic status was the strongest indicator of a disability (p = 0.006). Only 153 IBD patients (30.3%) reported contact with the social care system, and a disability was the strongest indicator for this (p