Objective: To explore and assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients in the population.
Methods: Random clustered sampling involving permanent inhabitants aged 18 - 80 yr was carried out under stratification of urban and suburban areas in Guangdong Province. Altogether 231 IBS patients fulfilling the Rome II criteria and 636 Non-IBS as control were collected. The impact of IBS on HRQOL was evaluated using the Chinese version of SF-36.
Results: (1) There were no statistically significant differences between IBS and Non-IBS groups in aspects of sex, age educational level, and distribution according to areas (P > 0.05). (2) IBS patients reported significantly poorer HRQOL than controls (Non-IBS) on all SF-36 subscales (P < 0.05). The patients had poorer HRQOL than the Non-patients, but their differences weren't significant (P > 0.05). (3) The scores on all SF-36 subscales were highly associated with the frequency of abdominal pain in IBS patients (P < 0.05); They were also correlated to degree of effects of IBS symptoms on life reported by IBS patients (P < 0.05); The association between the scores and the symptom of fatigue which is the most extra-intestinal symptom in IBS was significant (P < 0.05); (4) Copying style was highly correlated to the eight SF-36 subscales; IBS still had a significant impact on patients after partialing out the effect of copying style.
Conclusions: IBS symptoms had a negative impact on HRQOL and the SF-36 could be adopted to detect the differences between IBS group and Non-IBS group, which may be used as an outcome measure in future treatment studies. However, the development of IBS-specific measures of quality of life is necessary.