MONDAY, March 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Fatigue is highly prevalent in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a study published in the January issue of Crohn's and Colitis 360.
Rafael Martin-Masot, Ph.D., from the Regional University Hospital of Málaga in Spain, and colleagues examined the impact of fatigue in pediatric IBD using the IMPACT-III and IMPACT-III-P questionnaires in a multicenter study. A total of 382 patients aged 10 to 17 years (56 percent male; 61.1 percent with Crohn disease) and their caregivers from 37 hospitals completed the questionnaires, and 370 questionnaires were included in the analysis.
Treatments included immunosuppressants, 5-aminosalicylic acid, biologics, corticosteroids, and other therapies (44.6, 33.7, 30.8, 6.0, and 27.8 percent, respectively). The researchers found that 81.1 percent of patients reported fatigue, including 77.5 percent of those in clinical remission. Significant associations were seen for severe fatigue with female sex, older age, active disease, and dietary treatment. In contrast, independent associations were seen for absence of fatigue with male sex, earlier pubertal stage, and not receiving biologics. Across all IMPACT-III domains, fatigue correlated with significantly lower health-related quality-of-life scores. The strongest impacts were seen in the social and systemic domains in Crohn disease, while emotional and physical domains were more affected in ulcerative colitis. In all domains, patients without severe fatigue consistently scored higher.
"Our findings and those of previous studies demonstrate that a substantial proportion of patients continue to experience fatigue even during periods of clinical remission," the authors write. "This persistence suggests that fatigue in IBD is not solely driven by inflammation, but rather arises from a complex interplay of physiological, psychological, and behavioral factors."