IBD-BOOST OPTIMISE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identifying potential medical causes of fatigue, pain and urgency in inflammatory bowel disease and optimising medical management of these causes.
IRAS ID
249845
Contact name
Christine Norton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) affects 300,000 people in the UK causing unpredictable bouts of gut inflammation, with acute illness, diarrhoea, and pain. In remission, many people with IBD live with fatigue, chronic pain, and bowel urgency/incontinence. There is no current cure for IBD, which usually starts in childhood or as a young adult. Most previous IBD research has focused on controlling inflammation. However, many people report continuing IBD-related fatigue (41%), abdominal pain (62%) and difficulty with continence (up to 75%) even when IBD is in remission. These symptoms limit peoples’ quality of life and ability to work and socialise.
The current application is stage three of IBD-BOOST, a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grant for Applied Research (PGfAR) funded programme. The overall aim of the Programme Grant is to improve the quality of life of people with IBD by reducing the burden of IBD-related fatigue, pain, and urgency/incontinence.
The current application is for stage 3 of the programme.
Stage 1 was undertaken with REC Approval (REC reference: 17/WA/0349/ IRAS number: 228902) and involves focus groups and interviews with people with IBD to inform the development of a later online self-management platform.
Stage 2 has been approved by an Ethics committee (REC reference: 18/NW/0613/ IRAS number: 246185). It involves a large cross-sectional survey to people with IBD to investigate the inter-relationships of these IBD-related symptoms and the percentage of people wanting support to manage these.
Stage 3 (this application) is a non-randomised (cohort) study to test a checklist and clinical management algorithm (step by step guide for health professionals), which we have developed for identifying and managing the most common medical causes of these IBD-related symptoms. We will then address any medical issues detected.
Stage 4 Participants will then be invited to take part in an RCT of online self-management.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0107
Date of REC Opinion
12 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion