Quality of life of patients with irritable bowel syndrome in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
The impact of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) on HRQOL has been widely studied in the West. However, there are few data from Asian countries. The aim of this study was to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients suffering from IBS in Korea.


METHODS
Consecutive patients from six secondary and six tertiary medical centers in Korea were enrolled and completed self-administered questionnaires on sociodemographics and IBS-associated symptoms. HRQOL was assessed using the generic Short Form 36 (SF-36) and the disease-specific IBS-QOL questionnaires.


RESULTS
Of the 932 patients with abdominal pain and bowel symptoms, 664 IBS patients who fulfilled the Rome II criteria were analyzed. On all eight SF-36 scales, IBS patients had a significantly worse HRQOL than the general population (P < 0.01). The overall score for the IBS-QOL was 74.2. The health concern domain was most affected (mean score 64.2), and the sexual domain (mean score 86.7) was least affected in the IBS-QOL. Significant impairment of HRQOL was only observed in patients with severe symptoms both in the generic and specific HRQOL measurement, whereas patients with mild and moderate symptoms showed only mild impairment (P < 0.01). Female patients reported a significantly lower HRQOL than male patients (P < 0.05), but the difference was minimal. The IBS-QOL was significantly associated with female gender, total symptom score, self-reported symptom severity, and level of education in the multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
IBS-related symptoms had a great effect on the HRQOL of Korean patients. These results and the considerable prevalence of IBS in Korea indicate that IBS has a substantial social impact in this country.
Park
Jae Myung
JM
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, # 505, Banpo-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, 137-701, Korea.
Choi
Myung-Gyu
MG
Kim
Yong Sung
YS
Choi
Chang Hwan
CH
Choi
Suck Chei
SC
Hong
Su Jin
SJ
Jeong
Jeong Jo
JJ
Lee
Dong Ho
DH
Lee
Joon Seong
JS
Lee
Kwang Jae
KJ
Son
Hee Jung
HJ
Sung
In Kyung
IK
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life