A Comparative Study of the Psychological Characteristics of the Patients with and without Irritable Bowel Syndrome Referred to the Internal Specialists’ Clinics of Arak in 2019

Introduction: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the 25 gastrointestinal tract functional disorders. The global prevalence of IBS is about 11% and its prevalence in Iran is at the range of 1.1-25%. However, the etiology of this disorder is complex and unclear and it is known as a multifactorial disease. However, it seems that psychological factors play a more important role in causing IBS symptoms. Hence, this study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the relationship between the psychological characteristics (depression, anxiety and stress) in the patients with IBS and comparing them with the control group. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted using case-control method. The case group consisted of 54 patients diagnosed by an internal specialist based on the checklist of Diagnostic Criteria for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Rome-III). The control group consisted of 52 people without irritable bowel syndrome but suffered from a disease with a chronic pain. Two groups were matched in terms of age, gender, marital status, and education. DASS-21 test was used to assess the psychological problems. Finally, the data were analyzed by using SPSS software. Results: The participants of this study were homogenous in terms of age, gender, marital status, and education. Their mean age was 48.09 in the case group and 47.03 in the control group. According to the results, the people with IBS suffer from depression, stress, and anxiety more than the control group (P = 0.001). In addition, a significant relationship was found between gender, marital status, and IBS in the participants of this study; however, this relationship was not statistically significant for the variables of education and age. Conclusion: It seems that the psychological problems are involved in the onset and severity of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. Thus, paying attention to psychological disorders can be helpful in the treatment of most patients with IBS.