Evaluation of prakṛti and quality-of-life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prakṛti of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and its association with IBS subtypes and quality-of-life (QOL).


METHODS
IBS patients with the consistent subtype in the last 6 months were recruited. Prakṛti assessment with a 24-item questionnaire was performed and depending on the scores the patients were categorized into vāta predominant, pitta predominant, and kapha predominant prakṛti. QOL was assessed with prevalidated disease-specific 34-item questionnaire scored on a 0-100 scale.


RESULTS
Of 50 IBS patients enrolled, with mean age of 43.5 ± 12.8 years, and male: female as 43:7, 22 patients were of vāta and pitta predominant prakṛti each while six patients had kapha predominant prakṛti. IBS-C was diagnosed in 24 patients, IBS-D in 21, and IBS-M in five patients. In vāta predominant group, IBS-C was found in 13 patients, IBS-D in 8, and IBS-M in 1. In pitta predominant group, IBS-D was found in 13, IBS-C in 6, and IBS-M in 3. In kapha predominant group, IBS-C was found in 5 patients and IBS-M in 1. The median QOL in IBS-C group was 48.897, IBS-D was 38.97, and IBS-M was 66.911. The median QOL score 52.205, 42.27, and 55.51 in vāta, pitta, and kapha predominant group, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Majority of the vāta predominant patients had developed IBS-C, pitta predominant patients had developed IBS-D. QOL was better in pitta predominant individuals of all IBS-disease subtypes. With this, we find that prakṛti examination in IBS helps in detecting the proneness of developing an IBS subtype and predicting their QOL accordingly.
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Ayurveda Research Centre, KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Sudatta G
SG
Shirolkar
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Seth G. S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Raakhi K
RK
Tripathi
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Seth G. S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Nirmala N
NN
Rege
Ayurveda; disease proneness; doṣa predominance; irritable bowel syndrome; prakṛti; quality-of-life