Context: While some studies have found disparities between subtypes of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), others did not found such differences.
Aim: This study aimed to investigate whether there are differences in psychological features between the subtypes of IBS.
Settings and design: A cross-sectional study was performed on all consecutive outpatients IBS diagnosed (from Oct. 2010 to Oct. 2011) in Taleghani Hospital gastroenterology clinic, Tehran, Iran.
Materials and methods: A total of 153 consecutively diagnosed IBS patients (using Rome III criteria); including 80 constipation-predominant (IBS-C), 22 diarrhea-predominant (IBS-D), and 51 mixed IBS (IBS-M) were asked to complete the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R).
Statistical analysis: Pearson's chi-square test was used to compare nominal variables. One-way ANOVA was used to compare continuous variables.
Results: Although IBS-C patients were more suffered from psychiatric disorders, there were no statistical differences between mean score of IBS-C, IBS-D, and IBS-M patients regarding to all of SCL-90-R subscales and three global indices including Global Severity Index (GSI), Positive Symptom Distress Index (PSDI) and Positive Symptom Total (PST) (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Our finding showed that there are no different symptomatic profiles between IBS subtypes.
Keywords: Irritable bowel syndrome; Rome III criteria; psychiatric aspects; symptom checklist-90-revised.