Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study
BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic functional condition, considerably reduces quality of life (QoL) and referral to gastroenterology is common. Until now, however, the impact of seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS on patients’ QoL and utility has not been assessed. METHODS: Pat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32649/ |
| _version_ | 1848794457929940992 |
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| author | Canavan, Caroline West, Joe Card, Timothy R. |
| author_facet | Canavan, Caroline West, Joe Card, Timothy R. |
| author_sort | Canavan, Caroline |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic functional condition, considerably reduces quality of life (QoL) and referral to gastroenterology is common. Until now, however, the impact of seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS on patients’ QoL and utility has not been assessed.
METHODS: Patients referred with “probable IBS” to the Nottingham Treatment Centre between October 2012 and March 2014 were invited to complete a QoL questionnaire (EuroQol–5 Dimension) before their first appointment. Patients with confirmed IBS who completed this baseline assessment were sent follow-up questionnaires three and twelve months later. Global QoL and utility were measured at each time point and change from baseline calculated. Paired t-tests analysed the significance of any change.
RESULTS: Of 205 invited patients, 69 were eligible and recruited. Response at three and twelve months was 45% and 17% respectively. Median global QoL at baseline was 67.5 (Interquartile range [IQR] 50.0 to 80.0), with a mean increase of 3.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] -5.38 to 11.88) three months later and a mean decrease of -1.82 (95% CI -16.01 to 12.38) after one year. The median utility at baseline was 0.76 (IQR 0.69 to 0.80), with a mean increase of 0.06 (95%CI -0.01 to 0.14) at three months and no change, 0.00 (-0.16 to 0.16), after one year.
CONCLUSION: Patients experienced a small but not statistically significant increase in QoL and utility three months after seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS, which was not maintained. Gastroenterology referral does not appear to appreciably improve Qol for most people with IBS. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32649 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:30Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-326492020-05-04T17:20:34Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32649/ Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study Canavan, Caroline West, Joe Card, Timothy R. BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic functional condition, considerably reduces quality of life (QoL) and referral to gastroenterology is common. Until now, however, the impact of seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS on patients’ QoL and utility has not been assessed. METHODS: Patients referred with “probable IBS” to the Nottingham Treatment Centre between October 2012 and March 2014 were invited to complete a QoL questionnaire (EuroQol–5 Dimension) before their first appointment. Patients with confirmed IBS who completed this baseline assessment were sent follow-up questionnaires three and twelve months later. Global QoL and utility were measured at each time point and change from baseline calculated. Paired t-tests analysed the significance of any change. RESULTS: Of 205 invited patients, 69 were eligible and recruited. Response at three and twelve months was 45% and 17% respectively. Median global QoL at baseline was 67.5 (Interquartile range [IQR] 50.0 to 80.0), with a mean increase of 3.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] -5.38 to 11.88) three months later and a mean decrease of -1.82 (95% CI -16.01 to 12.38) after one year. The median utility at baseline was 0.76 (IQR 0.69 to 0.80), with a mean increase of 0.06 (95%CI -0.01 to 0.14) at three months and no change, 0.00 (-0.16 to 0.16), after one year. CONCLUSION: Patients experienced a small but not statistically significant increase in QoL and utility three months after seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS, which was not maintained. Gastroenterology referral does not appear to appreciably improve Qol for most people with IBS. Public Library of Science 2015-10-02 Article PeerReviewed Canavan, Caroline, West, Joe and Card, Timothy R. (2015) Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study. Plos One, 10 (10). e0139389/1-e0139389/13. ISSN 1932-6203 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139389 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139389 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139389 |
| spellingShingle | Canavan, Caroline West, Joe Card, Timothy R. Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| title | Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| title_full | Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| title_fullStr | Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| title_short | Change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| title_sort | change in quality of life for patients with irritable bowel syndrome following referral to a gastroenterologist: a cohort study |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32649/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32649/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32649/ |