Quality of Life and Fatigue in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review

Objective: The objective of this paper is to assess the quality of life and fatigue among adult patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared to healthy controls. Methods: We conducted searches in Medline and Embase from January 2015 to April 2025. We included publications that examined adult patients with IBD without comorbidities, compared them to healthy controls, and assessed quality of life and fatigue. Two reviewers independently conducted study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. We described results narratively due to high heterogeneity. Results: Ten studies with a pool of 10,661 participants were selected. Three studies showed significantly worsened mental and physical components for quality of life in IBD patients compared to healthy controls. Additionally, three studies reported that fatigue was more prevalent among patients with IBD than in healthy controls. Conclusions: Our review suggests that quality of life is significantly reduced, and fatigue is more prevalent in IBD patients compared to healthy controls. Further long-term follow-up studies are needed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the global impact of IBD, particularly in non-Western populations.