Managing Fatigue in IBD

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) affects 240,000 people in the UK. Severe fatigue is a commonly reported symptom’; during remission 40% of people report it as their most troublesome symptom. However, awareness of this in health professionals is low and treatments for it are often lacking.

Crohn’s and Colitis UK have been awarded a £481, 242 grant by the Big Lottery Fund to undertake a project on fatigue in IBD. The 4 year research project (which began in July 2010), will examine the causes of fatigue, pilot a fatigue assessment tool and explore interventions to improve its management in IBD. The research is being carried in conjunction with our partners at King’s College London, University College London and Addenbrookes NHS Trust.

The project comprises a number of work packages. Currently, we have interviewed twenty volunteers with IBD and analysed the data that emerged from these discussions. We will use these data to develop a fatigue assessment tool which we will pilot with people living with IBD who have volunteered to help us with this project.

We have received offers of help from over 300 people and are no longer able to accept new volunteers. We thank everyone who has helped us so far, and those who will be contacted to help us with the next stage of the project.

We are also analysing data from a questionnaire study of healthcare professionals, to assess the level of awareness of fatigue. We will regularly update the website to publicise the progress of this study. By the end of the project in July 2014 we want to achieve the following outcomes:

• People with IBD will be more confident in requesting assessment and treatment for fatigue.
• Healthcare professionals in 240 IBD clinics will be able to provide greater help to people with IBD to manage their fatigue, though the development, testing and dissemination of a new IBD specific fatigue measurement scale.
• People with IBD will benefit from better assessment and treatment of their fatigue, through the development and evaluation of new interventions

The Big Lottery Fund is the largest UK distributor of National Lottery money to good causes. Their mission is to bring real improvements to communities and lives of people most in need.

The Big Lottery Fund uses money raised by The National Lottery to fund projects for health, education, environmental and charitable purposes.

In 2009/10 they made 14,000 funding commitments totalling £440 million to groups across the UK, ranging from £300 to investments of more than £1 million.

Crohn’s and Colitis UK was awarded a grant of £481,242 in November 2009 to undertake a research project on fatigue and IBD.

For further information on the Big Lottery Fund, and its charitable grants, click here