This study aimed to further the therapeutic and research utility of the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ-20) by providing a detailed description of TAQ-20 patterns across age and gender within a cohort of 655 youth with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Subjects comprised everyone between the ages of 12 and 21 who had ever completed the TRAQ-20 as part of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s IBD Partners or IBD Partners Kids and Teens cohorts. Researchers used kernel regression to build curves based on TRAQ-20 centile scores. They calculated age-stratified and gender-disaggregated mean scores on the TRAQ-20 across all domains. The average TRAQ-20 score rises with age. As compared to females, the trajectory of boys is steeper between the ages of 17 and 19. At 21 years old, the median overall TRAQ-20 score for women was 4.4, and for men, it was 4.7. High scores were found across the whole age range of the cohort for the TRAQ-20’s “Talking with Providers” domain, whereas lower scores were found in younger ages and higher scores were found in older ages for other domains. The 21-year-olds averaged a score of 4 or higher (out of 5) on every subscale of the TRAQ-20. Age is correlated with a rise in TRAQ-20 scores. The growth rate is not the same for both sexes. Growth rates also vary greatly between disciplines. Providers and investigators can utilize transition readiness growth curves to detect patients who are not meeting predicted transition readiness levels and establish what degree of transition readiness a patient must attain before being transferred to adult care.
Source: journals.lww.com/jcge/Abstract/2022/10000/Trajectories_of_the_Transition_Readiness.15.aspx
