Lay Summary

Proposal No. IBD-0232
Principal Investigator: Christien Janneke van der Woude, M.D., Ph.D.
Applicant Organization: Erasmus University Medical Center (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Project Title: The cost-effectiveness of fatigue management in patients with Crohn’s disease
Period of Award: November 1, 2008 – August 31, 2010

Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, IBD) are chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Most of IBD patients suffer from either continuous or intermittent attacks during their lives. Fortunately, in the past decades, more powerful drugs have come on the market to treat IBD patients. However, the quality of life in IBD patients is still low. Fatigue is a common problem for IBD patients and can be extreme and is a negative contributor to their quality of life. Due to fatigue, patients seek more medical attention. By implementing specific fatigue coping strategies, we will investigate their efficacy in lowering health costs and improving quality of life in IBD patients.