title: Quality of life in managed care patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
abstract: The relationship between the severity of abdominal discomfort/pain and generic and disease-specific quality of life (QoL) was explored in patients with irritable bowel syndrome in an MCO. Subjects were stratified into four symptom-severity groups. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were used to examine the relationship of QoL to severity of abdominal discomfort/pain. Generic and disease-specific QoL scores declined as severity of abdominal discomfort/pain increased. The lowest 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey scores for respondents with the most severe abdominal discomfort/pain were for role physical (24.2 +/- 35.4) and vitality (33.7 +/- 19.2). In multivariate regression models controlling for age, sex, work status and education, severity of abdominal discomfort/pain was a significant independent predictor of QoL.
authors.affiliation: Zynx Health Inc., Los Angeles, California, USA. Awilson@cerner.com
authors.forename: Alisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: George F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Longstreth
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wade
authors.forename: Chiun-Fang
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chiou
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barghout
authors.forename: Feride
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frech
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ofman
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States