Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients and healthy volunteers.
| HV (n = 29) | IBS (n = 29) | IBS-D (n = 10) | IBS-C (n = 11) | IBS-M (n = 8) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 47.9 ± 2.0 | 50.7 ± 3.3 | 37.8 ± 3.9 | 62.8 ± 4.3# | 50.0 ± 6.4 |
| Female Sex | 89.7% | 82.8% | 70.0% | 100% | 75% |
| BMI | 24.2 ± 0.6 | 28.4 ± 1.5** | 28.3 ± 3.5 | 27.4 ± 2.0 | 29.6 ± 2.3 |
| IBS-SSS | 12.5 (0–30.0) | 257.0 (210.0–352.3)*** | 286.5 (241.0–371.0)& | 284.0 (235.0–355.0)& | 197.0 (146.3–258.5)$ |
| IBS-QOL | 0 (0–3.0) | 103.3 (74.9–137.0)*** | 112.0 (92.0–154.5)& | 93.0 (35.0–134.0)& | 109.0 (69.0–133.8)& |
HV: Healthy Volunteers. IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome. IBS-D: diarrhoea-predominant IBS, IBS-C: constipation-predominant IBS, IBS-M: IBS with mixed symptoms. IBS-SSS: IBS Symptom Severity Score. IBS-QOL: IBS-36 Quality of Life. BMI: Body mass index. Age and BMI data expressed as Mean ± SEM. **p = 0.0042 IBS vs. HV, ***p < 0.0001 IBS vs. HV. Note: for IBS-QOL, n = 28 only for IBS (n = 9 for IBS-D). Subgroup analyses: #p = 0.0005 ANOVA, p < 0.001 IBS-D vs. IBS-C. &p < 0.0001 Kruskal Wallis test, p < 0.001 vs. HV and $p < 0.01 vs. HV.