Many Black, Hispanic Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Suffer From Post-Traumatic Stress

A third of Black and Hispanic patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have post-traumatic stress (IBD-PTS) that has gone undiagnosed, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week 2024, taking place May 18-21 in Washington, DC.

“Only recently has IBD-PTS been evaluated, with no studies examining it exclusively in African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx patients,” the researchers noted. In this cross-sectional analysis, they assessed the prevalence of IBD-PTS in people of color.

The study consisted of 80 patients (68.8% women, 53.8% Black, 35.0% Hispanic) who were identified through electronic medical records. Participants took an online study survey, which included disease and demographic information, and completed the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5; cutoff for diagnosis, 31).

More than half (51.3%) were diagnosed with Crohn disease, and 41.3% were diagnosed after age 30. Also, 65.0% of participants had been hospitalized, 70.0% had been to the emergency room, and 38.8% had 1 or more IBD-related surgeries. Most (92.5%) had never been diagnosed with PTS in the past; however, 57.5% indicated they experienced fear, anxiety, or feelings of threats to life due to IBD experiences. These negative feelings were due to IBD symptoms themselves (43.8%), IBD hospitalizations (31.3%), and having surgery (31.3%). Participants scored an average of 22.1 (SD=20.2) on the PCL-5, and 35.3% scored above 31. At the symptom cluster level, 42.5% reported re-experiencing the event, 40.0% reported avoidance behaviors, 48.8% had changes in mood or cognition, and 43.8% had hypervigilance at clinically significant levels.

“This is the first study to assess IBD-PTS in African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx patients. Results demonstrate over one-third meet the diagnostic cutoff for IBD-PTS, with most never formally diagnosed. This rate is 3 times higher compared with prior studies on White IBD patients,” the researchers concluded. “Further research on social and cultural factors that may predispose minoritized patients to IBD-PTS is also warranted.”