title: Health-related quality of life in adults with irritable bowel syndrome in a Mexican specialist hospital. A cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence shows the negative impact of irritable bowel syndrome on the quality of life of patients who suffer from the condition as compared to the general population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to determine the health-related quality of life in adults with irritable bowel syndrome who are receiving treatment at a specialist hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study had a cross-sectional prospective design. The study included consecutive patients diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome under the Rome III criteria and attending outpatient appointments. The SF-36 questionnaire was applied in its standard Spanish version and the results were compared with population reference scores in Mexico. Statistical analysis was performed with the Student's t test, analysis of variance and the Chi-squared test, considering a significance of 0.05%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and fifty-four patients were included in the study, 137 (89%) women and 17 (11%) men, with an average age of 52.8 (SD 12.6). The constipation, diarrhea and mixed subtypes comprised 85 (55.2%), 27 (17.5%) and 42 (27.3%) patients, respectively. The quality of life of patients with irritable bowel syndrome vs the population reference scores in Mexico were 50 vs 79 for the physical health sub-scale and 59.1 vs 76.7 for the mental health sub-scale, respectively (p = 0.000). No significant difference was found in quality of life among the irritable bowel syndrome subtypes (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health-related quality of life is lower in patients with irritable bowel syndrome in a population in the North East of Mexico compared to the data taken from a population reference study undertaken in the same country, enabling an inference in the female population and a cautious one from the results found in the small male sample studied. There was no significant difference found in the quality of life according to the clinical subtype of irritable bowel syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterologia, 0446677593400, México.
authors.forename: Jaime Alberto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sánchez Cuén
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterología , Hospital Regional ISSSTE , México.
authors.forename: Ana Bertha
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Irineo Cabrales
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterologia , Hospital Regional del Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado. Cu, México.
authors.forename: Gregorio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bernal Magaña
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigacion y Docencia , Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, México.
authors.forename: Felipe de Jesús
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Peraza Garay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires