Obstipasjon hos barn, en tverrstudie med bruk av spørreskjema for måling av livskvalitet

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life in children having Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) compared to healthy children without this illness. Material and methods: The Pediatric quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) was given to 50 children and their parents. 25 children with IBS were recruited at the hospital and 25 children were randomly picked from children attending school and kinder garden in Trondheim. Results: In the non-stratified material there was significantly worse quality of life in parentsreported children having IBS compared to children not having IBS. In the sub categories there were significant differences in total score, physical health, functioning at school, psychosocial health, emotional functioning, and mean score. This is described in the total score ( mean score 91-80) 2062 – 1763 given by a T-test. In the report given by the parents of the youngest children, there was a significant difference between the group of children suffering from IBS and the group of healthy children, physical function. There was no significant difference regarding quality of life in children having IBS as compared to the healthy children in the reports given by the children themselves, both regarding the sample as a whole and between different age groups. This is regarding total reporting and within different group of ages. There was no significant difference between gender or siblings in the measured quality of life. Class divided quality of life showed no significant differences between children not having constipation and children being ill with constipation, both in self-reports and parents-reports. Conclusions: : In the reports from parents of children having IBS the non-stratified material was significantly worse quality of life for children having IBS compared to children not having IBS.