Diverticulitis Patients Suffer Psychological, Physical Symptoms Even After Acute Attacks

People with diverticulitis continue to experience several psychological and physical symptoms long after severe attacks, a new study reveals.

Diverticulitis is a common digestive disease. In diverticulosis pouches are formed in the lining of the colon, which is a part of the large intestine. People with this condition experience pain or tenderness and fever; but this condition does not cause gastrointestinal bleeding. Over 50 percent of people above the age of 60 suffer from this. Occasionally the pouches get inflamed and cause infection. This condition is mostly treated with antibiotics; however, severe cases need surgery.

In the latest study, the researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, interviewed people with diverticulitis and confirmed that they suffer from psychological and physical symptoms long after acute illness period has passed. The patients interviewed reported about the symptoms they experienced weeks, months or years after the diverticulitis attack. This finding supports previous claims that in a few people diverticulitis is not just limited to isolated attacks but can also trigger certain chronic conditions that replicate the irritable bowel syndrome.

For several years, researchers and health experts considered the condition to be acute with periods of relative silence in between attacks. But, the current study challenges these claims and states that patients do experience ongoing symptoms.

In an experiment conducted by the same research team earlier, it was found that, those with diverticulitis have a four times increased risk of developing irritable bowel syndrome (IRB) after their illness, and this condition was referred to as post-diverticulitis IRB. After this initial attack, people experienced anxiety and depression. But, it was a small scale study.

In the current study led by Dr. Brennan Spiegel, when the patients were interviewed they reported feeling fear, anxiety and depression. The patients also live in constant fear of experiencing another attack and are scared of traveling due to which they feel socially isolated. Apart from this, they experience bothersome physical symptoms like bloating, watery stools, abdominal pain and incomplete evacuation and nausea.

"We dug deeper into identifying the chronic physical, emotional and behavioral symptoms that can profoundly change people's lives after an attack of diverticulitis," said Spiegel, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Fielding School of Public Health. "Our findings reveal that many people suffer silently with severe quality-of-life problems long after an acute diverticulitis attack."

Based on these inputs the researchers developed a questionnaire to help health experts better assess the long term impact of diverticulitis which lead to better understanding and management of the disease.

The team developed a new screening tool by reviewing data on quality of life measures used to measure diverticulitis and related gastrointestinal conditions. They finally created a draft survey and tested it on 197 patients who reported symptoms even after the acute attack is over.

"This new screening tool will help clinicians better define and manage diverticulitis," said study author Mark Reid, principal statistician at the UCLA/VA Center for Outcomes Research and Education. "We can now screen patients for poor quality of life based on their condition and then actively manage their diverticulitis like other chronic gastrointestinal conditions."

The finding was documented in journal Quality of Life Research.