Kvaliteta života bolesnika s kroničnim upalnim bolestima crijeva niža je u odnosu na opću populaciju. Osim simptoma bolesti, kvalitetu života dodatno snižavaju česti boravci u zdravstvenim ustanovama, učestaliji liječnički pregledi i slično. Dugoročno gledano, problem predstavlja i briga bolesnika za budućnost i konačni ishod bolesti, planiranje obitelji te strah od nastanka maligne bolesti. Namjera ovog članka je prikazati neke posebnosti s kojima se oboljeli od kroničnih upalnih bolesti crijeva susreću, te prikazati suvremene znanstvene spoznaje iz područja pružanja skrbi za osobe oboljele od kroničnih upalnih bolesti crijeva. U članku su obrađeni kao posebni entiteti: kronična upalna bolest crijeva u djece/adolescenata, trudnoća i kronične upalne bolesti crijeva, kronične upalne bolesti crijeva i prehrana, kirurgija, psihosocijalni čimbenici i upalne bolesti crijeva, samopomoć. Važna uloga liječnika obiteljske medicine je osim pomoći da se na vrijeme bolest dijagnosticira i započne liječiti, i upoznavanje bolesnika kako živjeti s tim bolestima, odnosno odgovori na praktična pitanja koja se u svakodnevnome životu neizostavno nameću.Patients with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases have lower quality of life compared to general population. Aside from disease
symptoms, the quality of life is additionally lowered by frequent admissions, more frequent follow up, and the like. From a long term perspective, problems also arise in patients worrying about the disease outcome, fear from developing a malignant disease arising from chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and family planning. The purpose of this article is to present some of the specific situations faced by people with chronic inflammatory bowel disease and review the state-of-the-art in the fi eld of providing care for people with chronic infl ammatory bowel disease. The following specifi c problems are tackled: chronic infl ammatory bowel disease in children/ adolescents, pregnancy, chronic infl ammatory bowel disease and nutrition, surgery, psychosocial factors and inflammatory bowel disease, and self-help. The role of family medicine consists not only of helping diagnosing the disease as early as possible in order to enable early treatment, but also to advise patients how to live with the disease and offer answers to their questions arising from everyday life with the disease
