People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who have psychological comorbidities are more likely to have worse IBS symptoms and prognosis, a study shows.

Furthermore, most people with IBS have at least one psychological comorbidity such as anxiety, depression or somatic symptom disorder, the UK-led researchers report.

The investigators examined five psychological comorbidities in patients with IBS, and their impact on prognosis over 12 months among 807 adults meeting Rome IV criteria for IBS at baseline.

They used standard psychological questionnaires to score each person for anxiety, depression, perceived stress, somatic symptom disorder and gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety.