Table 4.

Clinical characteristics of IBS patients and controls

	IBS	Controls
Male:female	14:15	7:8
Age	41.5 ± 13.6	40.8 ± 6.7
SAS	43.1 ± 8.9*	27.0 ± 3.7
SDS	49.6 ± 10.0*	27.4 ± 2.7

No difference could be seen between IBS patients and controls in age and sex ratio, but SAS and SDS of IBS patients were significantly higher (P < 0.01). Values are shown as mean ± SD

SAS Self-rating anxiety scale, SDS self-rating depression scale