Change in fatigue in patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease initiating biologic therapy

Abstract

Background: Fatigue is common among patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) and is associated with decreased quality of life (QoL). Aims: Describe fatigue evolution and identify factors associated with fatigue outcomes in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD) initiating biologic treatment. Methods: Data from adult Belgian patients with UC or CD enrolled in a prospective real-world study were utilized. Fatigue and QoL were assessed using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness TherapyFatigue (FACIT-F) and the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, respectively. Factors associated with fatigue outcomes were assessed using multivariate regression. Results: 465 patients were included: 174 with UC and 291 with CD. Average FACIT-F scores indicated improvements in fatigue after 6 months, before stabilizing. A higher probability of fatigue disappearance was associated with clinical remission and was more likely in patients with UC than CD. Patients achieving clinical remission had lower probability of fatigue. Patients with fatigue improvements experienced greater QoL improvements than patients with fatigue persistence. Conclusions: Real-world findings suggest fatigue partly improves in the first 6 months of biologic treat- ment. Clinical remission was associated with greater probability of fatigue disappearance and lower like- lihood of fatigue persistence. Further research into factors associated with fatigue in patients with IBD is warranted. (c) 2025 Takeda. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)