Gut-Brain Interaction Disorders Result in Poorer Quality of Life

Patients with gut-brain interaction disorders (DGBI), especially those with more than 2 DGBIs, experience a deteriorated quality of life, a new study revealed. The findings are published in the journal Gastroenterology.

“This study is the most comprehensive assessment of quality of life to date in adults living with a DGBI,” the team of 7 researchers wrote. “It provides a representative picture of DGBI impact on adults in the global population and highlights the significant detrimental impact of living with a DGBI on quality of life.”

The investigators sourced data for this study from an online Rome IV diagnostic questionnaire from adults, with and without DGBI, residing in 26 countries. The significant predictors of physical and mental quality of life were categorized by age, sex, number of overlapping DGBI, somatization, anxiety, depression, and functional experiences such as concern, embarrassment, or stress associated with bowel functioning relating to DGBI.

Of the 54, 127 final respondents with more than 2 DGBIs reported a significantly poorer quality of life than those with only 1 DGBI or those with no DGBI. Women with DGBI experience a poorer quality of life as compared to men with DGBI; the same was true for patients more than 65 years of age vs those younger than 65 years old.

Patients with excessive belching and fecal incontinence had a higher quality of life score, whereas patients with mixed irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia reported a lower quality of life score.

DGBIs affect about 40% of the global population, leading to high health care costs and an adverse impact on daily life functions. The authors encourage physicians to consider psychosocial parameters in routine assessment of patients with DGBI.

Reference:

Knowles S, Skvarc D, Ford A, Palsson O, Bangdiwala S, Sperber A and Walus A. Impact of disorders of gut-brain interaction on health-related quality of life: Results from the Rome Foundation Global Epidemiology Survey. Gastroenterol. 2023; 164(4); 655-668. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2022.07.012