A Physiologic Events’ Cascade, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, is Significantly Associated with Chronic Gastritis, Hemorrhoid, Urolithiasis, and Depression

Mehmet DURU; Güven Kuvandik; Orhan Veli Özkan; Mehmet Rami HELVACI; Hasan Kaya

Mehmet DURU¹, Güven Kuvandik¹, Orhan Veli Özkan², Mehmet Rami HELVACI³, Hasan Kaya³

¹Departments Of Emergency Medicine,medicine Faculty Of The Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya Hospital
²Departments Of General Surgery,medicine Faculty Of The Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya Hospital
³Departments Of Internal Medicine, Medicine Faculty Of The Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya Hospital

Abstract

Objectives: About one third of people report recurrent upper abdominal discomfort, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is probably associated with most of the underlying pathologies.
Materials and Methods: We took consecutive patients admitted to the Emergency Department because of upper abdominal discomfort. IBS is diagnosed according to Rome II criteria in the absence of red flag symptoms, which are not typical for IBS. Other underlying causes of upper abdominal discomfort were detected and results were compaired between the cases with and without IBS.
Results: One hundred and twenty patients with IBS and 138 patients without were studied. Although 61.6% (n=74) of the IBS cases were female, this ratio was 42.0% (n=58) in patients without IBS (p<0.001). On the other hand, chronic gastritis (CG) was detected in 72.5% (87) of cases with IBS, whereas this ratio was 36.2% (50) in patients without (p<0.001). Similarly, although the prevalence of hemorrhoid was 33.3% (40) in the IBS cases, it was 15.2% (21) in the other group (p<0.001). Beside that, urolithiasis was detected in 17.5% (21) of the cases with IBS and in 11.5% (16) of the cases without (p<0.05). Additionally, the prevalence of depression was higher in the IBS group (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Relationships between IBS and CG, hemorrhoid, urolithiasis, and depression are significant, and IBS is a cascade of many physiologic events, being initiated with psychological disturbances-like many stresses and eventually terminating with gut dysfunction. Keeping in mind these associations will be helpful for physicians during prevention, treatment, and follow up of these patients.