Psychophysiological responses to stress in individuals with IBD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Physiological and psychological responses to stress in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease
IRAS ID
227194
Contact name
Gavin P Trotman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
It has long been proposed that there is an association between stress and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with IBD originally considered to be a psychosomatic disease. However there remains some uncertainty in the literature, due to variations in the measurements of stress, mixed disease groups, and lack of objective measures of inflammation and disease activity. It is not clear whether individuals with IBD experience exaggerated perceptions of stress, exaggerated actual physiological responses or both. The current study will explore the associations between stress and disease activity in more detail. First, the physiological (e.g. heart rate, inflammation)and psychological (e.g. anxiety) responses to a standardised laboratory stress task in individuals with IBD, will be compared to the responses of healthy control participants.\n\nIn the second part of the study, disease activity will be monitored over a period of 6 months, and associations between the responses to the laboratory stress task and fluctuations in disease activity during follow up will be investigated in individuals with IBD. \nOur main outcome measures will be the stress responses, indicated by cardiovascular (i.e. heart rate and blood pressure changes), inflammatory (blood samples to obtain inflammatory markers) and psychological (questionnaires regarding their perceptions of the task) responses.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0241
Date of REC Opinion
13 Oct 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion