Perceived stress and inappropriate coping behaviors associated with poorer quality of life and prognosis in patients with ulcerative colitis.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To explore the effect of perceived stress and coping behaviors on quality of life and clinical outcomes in patients with ulcerative colitis.<bold>Methods: </bold>This is a prospective cohort study in a tertiary inflammatory bowel disease center in China. A total of 263 ulcerative colitis patients were enrolled consecutively between June 2013 and February 2015. The Perceived Stress Scale, the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire, and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire were used to assess perceived stress, medical coping and quality of life at baseline. Patients were followed up for hospitalization due to relapse over a one-year period. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify whether perceived stress and medical coping behavior were related to quality of life and hospitalization.<bold>Results: </bold>Patients with invalid questionnaires (n = 6) and those lost to follow-up (n = 28) were excluded. A total of 229 ulcerative colitis patients (mean age 40.4 ± 12.6, 50.7% male) were included in the final analysis, and 23 patients had been hospitalized during the one-year follow-up period. After adjusting other associated variables, perceived stress (OR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.19) and acceptance-resignation behavior (OR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.21 to 1.65) were independently associated with poor quality of life. Patients scoring highly for acceptance-resignation behavior (OR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.46) were more likely to be hospitalized during the one-year follow-up period.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>In patients with ulcerative colitis, identifying those who adopted more acceptance-resignation behavior and improving their medical coping behavior by psychotherapy could be helpful to achieve better quality of life and disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]