Body image refers to a person’s subjective mental picture of their physical appearance. Due to disease-related symptoms and medication side-effects, children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have unfavourable self-evaluations about their body image. The purpose of this study was to look at demographic, medical, and psychosocial characteristics connected to body image dissatisfaction (BID) in IBD patients and see which ones are most predictive of increased dissatisfaction. A total of 52 kids aged 8 to 17 years who had recently been diagnosed with IBD answered questionnaires on their psychosocial functioning, illness symptoms, and BID. From electronic chart review, physicians’ worldwide assessments of disease activity, as well as demographic and medical information, were extracted. Youth had minimal overall BID worries, but were most dissatisfied with their abdomen, chest, and arms. In a hierarchical regression model, older child age, more patient-reported illness symptoms, and worse depressive symptoms were most substantially linked with total body dissatisfaction.
BID is connected with demographic, disease-related, and psychosocial variables in adolescents newly diagnosed with IBD. Given the links between BID and poor health outcomes in healthy young people, the findings indicate a unique opportunity to enhance BID screening and treatment in IBD patients.
Reference: https://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Abstract/2021/03000/Age,_Disease_Symptoms,_and_Depression_are.14.aspx
