Abstract
Objective : High prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in patients with panic disorder (PD) has been reported. PD has a lot in common with IBS on the viewpoints of symptomatology, pharmacotherapy and the brain-gut axis theory. However, precise characteristics of PD patients with IBS are not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics of PD patients with IBS. Method : The participants of this study were 150 PD outpatients (37 males and 113 females, mean age was 33.7±9.5 years old), who met DSM-IVcriteria. PD patients completed Rome II Modular Questionnaire (RMQ), Scale of PD symptoms, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results : The prevalence of IBS who met Rome II criteria was 36.0% of all participants. The onset of IBS preceded in 38.9%, the onset of PD preceded in 29.6%, and the simultaneous onset was found in 14.8%. The PD patients with IBS (PD[+]/IBS[+]) had significantly higher prevalence of agoraphobia and depression than those without IBS (PD[+]/IBS[-]). PD[+]/IBS[+] was apt to have higher frequency of anticipatory anxiety than PD[+]/IBS[-]. Furthermore, as compared among PD[+]/IBS[+] with agoraphobia (IBS[+]/AP[+]), PD[+]/IBS[+] without agoraphobia (IBS[+]/AP[-]), PD[+]/IBS[-] with agoraphobia (IBS[-]/AP[+]), and PD[+]/IBS[-] without AP (IBS[-]/AP[-]), IBS[+]/AP[+] and IBS[-]/AP[+] had significantly higher degree and frequency of anticipatory anxiety and depression than IBS[-]/AP[-]. Conclusion : High frequency of anticipatory anxiety and depression of PD[+]/IBS[+] may be associated with agoraphobia. However, there was no significant difference between IBS[+]/AP[+] and IBS[+]/AP[-], and between IBS[-]/AP[+] and IBS[+]/AP[-]. Therefore, we should not disregard the relationship between IBS and high score of anticipatory anxiety and depression. Further studies on relationship between IBS and agoraphobia may be required in larger sample.
