Irritable Bowel Syndrome Associated with Improved Survival

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F Li et al. AJG 2024; DOI: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000002675. The Time-Dependent Association between Irritable Bowel Syndrome and All-cause and Cause-specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study within the UK Biobank

Key findings:

  • Having an IBS diagnosis was strongly associated with lower risks of all-cause (HR=0.70) and all cancer (HR=0.69) mortality in the first 5-years of follow-up. These associations were attenuated over follow-up, but even after 10 years of follow-up, associations remained inverse (all-cause: HR=0.89; all cancer: HR=0.87) after full adjustment.
  • Individuals with IBS had decreased risk of mortality from breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer in some of the follow-up time categories.

My take: Having IBS may cause suffering but appears to lower risk of death. The reason for this is not clear.

1 thought on “Irritable Bowel Syndrome Associated with Improved Survival”

  1. I wonder if people with IBS – complain more and undergo more medical investigations leading to earlier diagnoses and earlier treatment – thus possibly leading to lower mortality?

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