title: Migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression among people with IBS: a prevalence study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Case descriptions suggest IBS patients are more likely to have other disorders, including migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression. We sought to examine the prevalence of these conditions in cohorts of people with and without IBS.
  
  
  METHODS
  The source of data was a large U.S. health plan from January 1, 1996 though June 30, 2002. We identified all people with a medical claim associated with an ICD-9 code for IBS. A non-IBS cohort was a random sample of people with an ICD-9 code for routine medical care. In the cohorts, we identified all claims for migraine, depression, and fibromyalgia. We estimated the prevalence odds ratios (PORs) of each of the three conditions using the Mantel-Haenszel method. We conducted quantitative sensitivity analyses to quantify the impact of residual confounding and in differential outcome identification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 97,593 people in the IBS cohort, and a random sample of 27,402 people to compose the non-IBS comparison cohort. With adjustment, there was a 60% higher odds in the IBS cohort of having any one of the three disorders relative to the comparison cohort (POR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5 - 1.7). There was a 40% higher odds of depression in the IBS cohort (POR 1.4, 95% CI 1.3 - 1.4). The PORs for fibromyalgia and migraine were similar (POR for fibromyalgia 1.8, 95% CI 1.7 - 1.9; POR for migraine 1.6, 95% CI 1.4 - 1.7). Differential prevalence of an unmeasured confounder, or imperfect sensitivity or specificity of outcome detection would have impacted the observed results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  People in the IBS cohort had a 40% to 80% higher prevalence odds of migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston MA, USA. jalexcole@comcast.net
authors.forename: J Alexander
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.forename: Howard J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Francis A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Farraye
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology