The study team, headed by Dr. William Whitehead, professor of medicine and co-director of the UNC Center for Functional Gastrointestinal and Motility Disorders, also confirmed earlier findings of a strong link between childhood sexual abuse and the development of irritable bowel syndrome during adulthood. These patients may require assessment and perhaps referral to mental health services. The study analyzed questionnaire responses of 389 patients at gastroenterology clinics in Washington and North Carolina. Prior studies using intensive interviews in gastrointestinal clinics have identified a history of early sexual abuse in about 45 percent of irritable bowel syndrome patients. Irritable bowel syndrome is characterized by a combination of persistent and recurrent abdominal pain and abnormal bowel habit such as diarrhea, constipation or both.
Pain often begins after eating and goes away after a bowel movement.
Other symptoms include bloating, passage of mucus and a feeling of incomplete emptying. Irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by structural, biochemical or infectious abnormalities. Rather, it is considered a dysregulation, or abnormality, of brain-bowel function. Ten to 20 percent of all adults experience symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. A study headed by a UNC-CH researcher confirms that people with irritable bowel syndrome have a poorer quality of life than patients with other gastrointestinal complaints, such as peptic ulcers.