Abstract
Depression, gender and systemic manifestations in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. The purpose of this study was to assess the relation between depression, gender and systemic manifestations in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. With this aim, 106 patients (57 with Crohn disease and 49 with ulcerative colitis) were divided into 4 groups: men with extraintestinal manifestations (n= 10), men without extraintestinal manifestations (n= 36), women with extraintestinal manifestations (n= 15), and women without extraintestinal manifestations (n= 45). Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory. The results reveal significant effects both in the systemic manifestations factor (F= 28,33; p<0.01), and in the interaction between systemic manifestations and gender (F= 5,2; p<0.05); the gender factor, in contrast, was nonsignificant (F= 0,28; p>0.05). The finding of higher levels of depression in patients with systemic manifestations, particularly in men, underlines the need for psychological intervention aimed at detection and effective treatment.
