A population study on irritable bowel syndrome and mental health

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is commonly thought to he associ ated with psychologic distress. However. in some studies only persons who h ad sought medical cart: for IBS (IBS patients) showed an increased frequenc y of psychiatric symptoms, and nonpatients did not differ significantly fro m normal subjects. Our aims were 1) to estimate the prevalence of IBS in th e population aged 18-45 years, 2) to find the proportion seeking medical ca re for IBS, and 3) to compare IBS subjects with normals, and IBS patients w ith IBS nonpatients with regard to mental health. Methods: Questionnaires o n IBS symptoms and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were mailed to 50 00 randomly sampled persons aged 18-45 years. The response rate was 58%. Re sults: IBS was found in 7.4% of the men and 13.3% of the women. Those who h ad sought medical attention had more severe symptoms. The Likert mean score on the GHQ was 4.7 (95% confidence interval, 4.4-5.0) points higher for th e IBS group than for normals (P < 0.001). There was no difference in GHQ sc ores between IBS patients and nonpatients. Conclusions: The results indicat e that IBS per se is associated with more psychiatric distress, regardless of medical care-seeking. Seeking medical care is associated with more sever e IBS symptoms.