Irritable bowel syndrome and surgery: a multivariable analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have high surgical rates. We investigated the demographic and medical factors independently associated with surgical histories of health examinees.


METHODS
We applied multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis to self-completed questionnaire data from 89,008 examinees, assessing 6 surgeries as outcomes. We assessed questionnaire/physician record agreement of physician-diagnosed IBS and surgical history on 201 randomly selected examinees with > or =3 years of records.


RESULTS
Questionnaire/record agreement for IBS and surgery was 83.6% (kappa = 0.68) and 95.5%-100.0% (kappa = 0.82-1), respectively. IBS was reported by 4587 examinees (5.2%) (1382 men [3.0%] and 3205 women [7.5%]). Subjects with and without IBS, respectively, reported the following surgical procedures: cholecystectomy, 569 (12.4%) versus 3428 (4.1%), P < 0.0001; appendectomy, 967 (21.1%) versus 9906 (11.7%), P < 0.0001; hysterectomy, 1063 (33.2%) versus 6751 (17.0%), P < 0.0001; back surgery, 201 (4.4%) versus 2436 (2.9%), P < 0.0001; coronary artery surgery, 127 (2.8%) versus 2033 (2.4%), P > 0.05; peptic ulcer surgery, 22 (0.5%) versus 277 (0.3%), P > 0.05. Among independent surgery associations, IBS was associated with cholecystectomy (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.89-2.31; P < 0.0001), appendectomy (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.33-1.56; P < 0.0001), hysterectomy (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.55-1.87; P < 0.0001), and back surgery (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.05-1.43; P = 0.0084).


CONCLUSIONS
Health examinees with physician-diagnosed IBS report rates of cholecystectomy 3-fold higher, appendectomy and hysterectomy 2-fold higher, and back surgery 50% higher than examinees without IBS; IBS is independently associated with these surgical procedures.
Longstreth
George F
GF
Department of Gastroenterology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Plan, Kaiser Medical Center, 4647 Zion Avenue, San Diego, CA 92120, USA. George.F.Longstreth@kp.org
Yao
Janis F
JF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D013505:Digestive System Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires