HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE   Maria Tsoukka1,2, Eleni Jelastopulu1,3, George Charalambous1,4 1Postgraduate Program in Health Management, Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus 2General Hospital of Larnaca, Larnaca, Cyprus 3Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Greece 4General Hospital of Athens “Hippocratio”, Athens, Greece   INTRODUCTION Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are clinical entities characterized by chronic relapsing immune activation and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The main forms of these chronic diseases are Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s Disease may affect any part of the digestive tract, while Ulcerative Colitis affects only the large intestine. Both conditions follow a course of remissions and flare-ups, and their impact on patients’ daily lives is immediate (Baumgart and Carding, 2007). These diseases significantly affect patients’ Quality of Life (Pontes et al., 2004). The traditional method of assessing the severity of IBD does not include the overall impact of the disease on the patient's health, nor does it take into account the patient's own perception of their illness. Chronic diseases create challenges that extend beyond morbidity and affect the daily life of those living with them. Their overall health status is determined not only by clinical assessment,......