Abstract
The present study tested our hypothesis that university students with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may experience less satisfactory academic lives than those of students without IBS. We also verified the hypothesis that university students with IBS might have higher employment anxiety than students without IBS might. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1,686 university students. Presence or absence of IBS was assessed via the Rome III Questionnaire. Two original items were used to evaluate academic life. The prevalence rates of IBS with diarrhea, IBS with constipation, mixed IBS, and unsubtyped IBS in the study population were 5%, 2%, 10%, and 3%, respectively. Regarding academic life, the proportions of participants who experienced maladjustment and employment anxiety were 29% and 50%, respectively. After adjusting for age, sex, and faculty, the odds ratios for maladjustment and employment anxiety were significantly higher in students who screened positively, relative to those who screened negatively, for IBS (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.24–2.21; OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.68–2.81, respectively). In conclusion, maladjustment and anxiety over future employment were higher in university students with IBS relative to those without.
Highlights
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is not associated with major organic disease [1, 2]
The prevalence rates of IBS with diarrhea (D-IBS), IBS with constipation (C-IBS), mixed IBS (M-IBS), and unsubtyped IBS (U-IBS) in the study population were 5%, 2%, 10%, and 3%, respectively
The crude odds ratio for maladjustment in academic life was significantly higher in students who screened positively for IBS relative to those who screened negatively (OR, 1.48; 95% confidence intervals (CIs), 1.15–1.90)
Summary
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is not associated with major organic disease [1, 2]. The characteristic pathophysiological features of IBS are dysmotility of the lower gastrointestinal tract [4], visceral hypersensitivity [5], and psychological abnormalities [6]. These symptoms exert a significant impact on various aspects of life in individuals with IBS [7–. Quality of life (QOL) in adult patients with IBS has been shown to be low [7,8,9,10]. In a cross-sectional study of 257 adult patients with IBS, health-related quality of life was shown to be lower than that observed in healthy individuals [7]
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