Abstract: Objective: To investigate the current status and influencing factors of fatigue in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and to explore the pathway relationship between exercise, sleep quality, depression, fatigue and disease perception, so as to provide a scientific basis for the subsequent management of fatigue in patients with IBD. Methods: The fatigue status of 289 IBD patients in gastroenterology outpatient clinics in Beijing and Qingdao was investigated by convenience sampling. The influencing factors were analyzed by hierarchical regression, and the fatigue-related pathway analysis was carried out by maximum likelihood method based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms. Results: Totally 89.6% of IBD patients had fatigue symptoms of varying severity. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that BMI, hormone therapy, active disease, exercise, depression and sleep quality were the influencing factors of fatigue in IBD patients (P<0.05). Pathway analysis showed that exercise, depression and sleep quality had a direct effect on fatigue, and indirectly affect the disease perception of IBD patients through the complete mediating effect of fatigue. Conclusion: The incidence of fatigue in IBD patients is high. Medical staff can alleviate the fatigue symptoms, reduce their negative disease perception, and improve their quality of life through targeted intervention measures.

Key words: Inflammatory Bowel Disease; fatigue; theory of unpleasant symptoms; influencing factor; path analysis