Health-related quality of life in health states corresponding to different stages of perianal fistula associated with Crohn's disease: a quantitative evaluation of patients and non-patients in Japan.

Background: Perianal fistula (PF), a complication of Crohn's disease (CD), affects health-related quality of life (QOL).

Objective: To elucidate QOL of health states corresponding to different stages of PF associated with CD in Japan.

Method: This cross-sectional, observational, web-based questionnaire survey assessed eight different health states in patients with CD and PF and individuals without CD (non-patients) from the Medilead Healthcare Panel (MHP) and determined the utility values (QOL scores) in each health state by the time trade-off method. In patients, we determined also the utility value of the current health state associated with CD and the PF. The analysis excluded respondents with logical inconsistencies.

Results: The analysis included 82 patients and 576 non-patients with the same sex and age distribution as the Japanese population. In both groups, mean utility values were higher in remission (patients, 0.78; non-patients, 0.51) than in non-remission states, with lowest values for poor prognosis after proctectomy (patients, 0.13; non-patients, -0.10) and highest values for the state with mild symptoms (patients, 0.60; non-patients, 0.30). In patients, the mean utility value of the current health state was 0.71.

Conclusion: QOL decreases with increasing severity of PF and is lower for good prognosis after proctostomy than for remission.