Factors Associated With the Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Miyagi Part of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Community-based Cohort Study

Kumi Nakaya; Naoki Nakaya; Mana Kogure; Rieko Hatanaka; Ippei Chiba; Ikumi Kanno; Satoshi Nagaie; Tomohiro Nakamura; Motoyori Kanazawa; Soichi Ogishima; Nobuo Fuse; Shin Fukudo; Atsushi Hozawa

doi:10.5056/jnm23090

Factors Associated With the Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Miyagi Part of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Community-based Cohort Study

J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2024 Apr 30;30(2):208-219. doi: 10.5056/jnm23090.

Authors

Kumi Nakaya^{1

2}, Naoki Nakaya^{1

2}, Mana Kogure^{1

2}, Rieko Hatanaka^{1

2}, Ippei Chiba^{1

2}, Ikumi Kanno^{1

2}, Satoshi Nagaie^{1

2}, Tomohiro Nakamura^{1

2

3}, Motoyori Kanazawa², Soichi Ogishima^{1

2}, Nobuo Fuse^{1

2}, Shin Fukudo², Atsushi Hozawa^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
² Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
³ Faculty of Data Science, Kyoto Women's University, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract

Background/aims: The objective of this research is to examine factors related to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) prevalence in a large population-based study.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with participants in the Miyagi part of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Community-Based cohort study who completed the Rome II Modular Questionnaire. Multivariate odds ratios (ORs) for the presence of IBS and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the reference group were calculated for each factor. Additionally, a stratified analysis was performed by sex and age group (20-49 years, 50-64 years, and ≥ 65 years).

Results: Among 16 252 participants, 3025 (18.6%) had IBS, comprising 750 men (15.5%) and 2275 women (19.9%). Multivariate ORs for the presence of IBS decreased significantly with each year of age (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.98-0.99). Moreover, compared with the reference group, ORs for the presence of IBS were significantly higher in individuals whose home was partially damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake, those with < 16 years of education, those who spent less time walking, those with high perceived stress (1.77, 1.57-2.01), those with high psychological distress (1.58, 1.36-1.82), and those with high symptoms of depression (1.76, 1.60-1.94). In stratified analyses, a significant relationship was found between psychological factors and IBS prevalence in all sex and age groups.

Conclusions: This large cross-sectional population-based cohort study identified several factors associated with IBS prevalence. Psychological factors were significantly associated with IBS prevalence across all age groups and sexes.

Keywords: Cross-sectional studies; Irritable bowel syndrome; Prevalence; Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Community-based cohort study.

Grants and funding

Financial support: ToMMo is supported by grants from the Reconstruction Agency, from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, from the Intramural Research Grant (2-2) for Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders, and from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (JP17km0105001 and JP21tm0124005). The supercomputer resource (powered by AMED research grant JP22tm0424601) and an integrated database dbTMM were provided by Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University. This work was supported by AMED (Grant No. JP21zf0127001).