Korean J Neurogastroenterol Motil.
2005 Jun;11(1):50-57.
The Comparison of Irritable Bowel Syndrome between Consulters and Non-consulters
- Affiliations
-
- 1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. leeoy@hanyang.ac.kr
Abstract
- BACKGROUND/AIMS
Only a relatively small portion of those people suffering with IBS, estimated at 25~50%, eventually seeks medical care. Yet little is known about the difference in the characteristics between the consulter and non-consulter IBS patients. This study aimed to explore the psychological and extra-colonic manifestations of the consulter and non-consulter IBS patients.
METHODS
We recruited 109 subjects from three different target groups: (1) 47 of the subjects had sought treatment at the outpatient gastroenterology clinic; (2) 32 of the subjects were diagnosed as having IBS, but they had not sought health care; (3) 30 of the subjects had no IBS symptoms. The Rome II criteria, the revised symptoms Checklist 90 and the gastrointestinal symptom check list were used to record the data.
RESULTS
Both the IBS consulters and non-consulters had significantly more severe gastrointestinal symptoms than did the control subjects without IBS. However, the consulters complained of more severe symptoms than the non-consulters. On the psychological test, the somatization (p<0.05) and anxiety scores (p<0.05) of the IBS patients were significantly more higher than those of the controls, but there were no differences between the consulter and non-consulter subjects for the psychological distress score, except for the interpersonal-sensitivity score (p=0.048).
CONCLUSIONS
Even though the consulter IBS patients complained of more severe gastrointestinal symptoms than non-consulters, there were no differences for psychological distress or the non-gastrointestinal physical symptoms between the non-consulters and the consulters.
