While irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is commonly associated with symptoms outside the intestine, it was not known whether these symptoms differed according to the subtypes of the condition. A new study published in Neurogastroenterology and Motility investigated the prevalence, and found that the IBS-M (mixed bowel habits) subtype had the highest prevalence of most extra-intestinal symptoms symptoms.
The researchers carried out a descriptive cross-sectional study patients with IBS according to Rome IV criteria. They were classified according to subtypes: IBS-D (diarrhoea-predominant), IBS-C (constipation-predominant), and IBS-M (mixed bowel habits). Of the 4862 patients included; there were 608 IBS-D (12.5%), 1978 IBS-C (40.7%), and 2276 IBS-M (46.8%).
Participants completed a patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score for depressive symptoms, with IBS-M the highest at 12.7 compared to 11.1 for IBS-D and 10.5 for IBS-C. They also completed an IBS-severity scoring system (IBS-SSS) questionnaire.
Overall, the study found the following results:
IBS-M:
- Overweight
- High IBS-SSS of 320
- Depressive symptoms (80.0%)
- Multiple extra-intestinal symptoms
- Arthralgia (62.4%)
- Chronic cervicalgia (81.0%)
- Extremity numbness (64.5%)
- Atopic dermatitis (28.2%)
IBS-C:
- Lower body mass index
- Low BS-SSS of 290
IBS-D:
- Overweight (30.9%)
- Higher food intolerance perception (9.5%)
- History of cholecystectomy (17.8%)
- Faecal incontinence (36.2%)
The authors concluded that, “The prevalence of most extra-intestinal symptoms is higher among patients with IBS-M. Further research is needed to better characterize IBS subtypes, which could potentially help refining tailored therapeutic strategies.”
