IBS Patients’ Symptoms Improved Under COVID-19 Lockdowns

An unexpected reduction in symptoms may be the result of less stress and more control over the diet at home.

Patients’ irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms unexpectedly improved when under COVID-19 home stays, reaffirming gut-brain connection in functional gastrointestinal disorders, according to study selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2021.

“One of our main hypotheses was that these patients would get worse as a result of pressure and stress from COVID-19,” said Juan Pablo Stefanolo, MD, a lead author of the study and a physician in the Neurogastroenterology and Motility section. , Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. “We think the results have something to do with those staying at home. They were not exposed to outside stress, and at home they were able to avoid food triggers. “

Pandemic lockdown orders in Argentina created a unique opportunity for researchers to study the impact of pandemic stressors and reduced social interaction on 129 IBS patients whose pre-pandemic data had already been collected through a previous research project. The patients were reassessed during the lockdown with the same online survey that included multiple validated measures of IBS severity, anxiety, and depression, along with questions about concomitant illnesses, including heartburn, regurgitation, indigestion, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and headaches without migraine.

During the lockdown in Argentina – one of the longest lockdowns in the world – the number of patients with severe IBS dropped sharply from 65 to 39. The mean score on the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Severity Scale for the group also dropped 66 points, from 278 to 212 on a scale of 500 points. IBS symptoms of pain, distention, stool consistency, anxiety, somatization, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue symptoms all improved during lockdown.

Patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders experience symptoms although no structural or biochemical abnormalities are present. The gut-brain connection refers to the role of stress and psychological problems in causing debilitating gut-related symptoms. Headaches, heartburn, and regurgitation – all outside of the functional disorders category – got worse during the study, likely due to the weight gain nearly 60 percent of patients reported.

“Our results reinforce the concept that IBS, or functional gastrointestinal disorders, is related to psychosocial factors as well as food and other factors,” said Dr. Stefanolo. “The gut-brain axis has many facets.”

Dr. Stefanolo presented data from the study, “Gut-brain axis and irritable bowel syndrome during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A Survey-Based Study, ”abstract Su093, on Sunday, May 23.