A single session of reassurance can acutely improve the self-perception of impairment in patients with IBS
Received 15 June 2005
Abstract
Objective
The aim of this study was to determine the reported frequency and self-perceived importance of factors related to health care seeking by irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and the effect of reassurance on these factors.
Methods
Fifty-five IBS patients, consulting for the first time, answered a questionnaire designed to evaluate these factors (FRQ), measurements of anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL). A thorough explanation of the disease and reassurance were given, and the FRQ was answered again.
Results
The frequency of factors was: pain/discomfort, 78%; cancer fear, 11%; daily function impairment, 33%; symptoms stressfulness, 60%; and none, 2%. Pain/discomfort and symptom stressfulness were considered the most important ones. Cancer fear and symptom stressfulness correlated with anxiety (P=.003, .042), depression (P=.038, .019), and daily function impairment with depression (P=.05). Cancer fear, daily function impairment, and symptom stressfulness impacted on QoL. Reassurance acutely decreased the self-perception of daily function impairment (P=.003), independent of the patient's educational level.
Conclusions
Reassurance during the first consultation for IBS decreased the self-perception of impairment in daily function.
aDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
bDepartment of Internal Medicine, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Mexico City, Mexico
cDepartment of Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
dDepartment of Neurology and Psychiatry, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico
Corresponding author. Laboratory of Liver, Pancreas, and Motility (HIPAM), Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Hospital General de México, Doctor Balmis No. 148-Col. Doctores, Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. Tel.: +52 555 623 2683.
ABSTRACT