An accurate assessment of disease activity is crucial for the treatment of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Several indices have been used to assess disease activity in patients with UC. Mayo score is the most widely used index for UC activity measurement. Meanwhile, recent studies have reported that the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (SCCAI) correlates well with Mayo score. SCCAI is consisted of only clinical items and includes items such as nocturnal diarrhea and urgent defecation which are more closely related to the quality of life of patients. In this regard, a recent report demonstrated that SCCAI has a significant correlation with the degree of health-related quality of life in UC patients.
Since SCCAI is composed of only clinical parameters, it can be evaluated by the patients themselves. According to recent research, the self-administered SCCAI was reported to have a high correlation with the SCCAI assessed by physician (correlation coefficient = 0.79). Moreover, it is also reported that the self-administered SCCAI through the web-based input tool at home is highly correlated with the SCCAI assessed by physician (Spearman's correlation = 0.79). These results suggest that the patient's self-reported SCCAI can be applied to actual clinical practice, and it will enable remote monitoring and flexible follow-up depending on the patient's disease activity. If self-administered SCCAI is to be applied as a more valid disease activity assessment tools, it also properly reflects patient's quality of life status. However, it is not yet known whether the self-administered SCCAI using web-based tools reflects the quality of life of patients.
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-administered web-based SCCAI and the health-related quality of life of UC patients.
