ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pathology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1604851
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Interplay Between Microbiota, Gut, and Brain in Inflammatory Bowel DiseaseView all 5 articles
Knowledge, and Attitude, and Decisional Conflict Regarding Biologics among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
Qianqian Li1
Chenmei Xia1
Chunxiao Chen2
Yi Jiang3Lingxiao Jin1Jianmei Zhang4Linfeng Wu5Li Jiang1
Xia Chen1*- 1Department of Gastroenterology, The First People’s Hospital of Wenling, Wenling, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- 3Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
- 4Department of Gastroenterology, Lishui people’s hospital, Lishui, China
- 5Department of Anesthesiology, Taizhou Central Hospital, Taizhou, China
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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and decisional conflict regarding biologic treatments among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in China. Methods: This cross-sectional study included IBD patients recruited at the authors' hospital between July 2023 and January 2024. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and decisional conflict (measured by the Decisional Conflict Scale). Results: A total of 405 IBD patients participated, with 45.9% aged 30-49 years and 64% male. The average knowledge score was 6.03 ± 2.98 (possible range: 0-11), and the average attitude score was 24.36 ± 3.32 (possible range: 8-40). Among them, 60 (14.8%) patients exhibited significant decisional conflict. Spearman correlation analysis revealed a positive association between knowledge and attitude scores (r=0.554, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that being ≥ 50 years old, having ulcerative colitis, never having used biologics, and experiencing significant decisional conflict were associated with lower knowledge scores. Higher knowledge scores, a monthly income between 10,000-20,000 RMB, never having used biologics, and significant decisional conflict were associated with lower attitude. Conclusions: Older age, ulcerative colitis, lack of prior biologic use, and decisional conflict were associated with lower knowledge and lower attitude toward biologics among IBD patients. Targeted educational interventions may help reduce decisional conflict and improve patients’ attitudes toward biologic therapy.
Keywords: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Biological Therapy, knowledge, Attitude to Health, Decision Making
Received: 02 Apr 2025; Accepted: 19 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Xia, Chen, Jiang, Jin, Zhang, Wu, Jiang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xia Chen, werla@sina.com
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