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Relationship Between Cognitive Factors and Anxiety in Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Abstract

Background

Individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have high anxiety. There is insufficient information about the relationships between concrete cognitive contents and anxiety in IBS.

Purpose

The present study investigated the relationship between cognitive factors and anxiety in individuals with IBS.

Method

The participants were 1,087 college students (male, 506; female, 576; unidentified, 5; age, 19.72 ± 1.76 years) who completed a set of questionnaires that included the Rome II Modular Questionnaire (based on diagnostic criteria for IBS), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Cognitive Appraisal Rating Scale (CARS; subscales: commitment, appraisal of effect, appraisal of threat, and controllability) for measuring symptom-related cognition, an item about attention to abdominal symptoms, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety Scale (HADS-A), and an item regarding the presence of avoidant behavior due to anxiety of IBS symptoms.

Results

The participants included 881 individuals without IBS and 206 individuals with IBS. Individuals with IBS had higher ASI and HADS-A scores than those of the individuals belonging to the control group (p < 0.001). Subscale scores of CARS (except those of controllability and attention to IBS symptoms) significantly correlated with the ASI and HADS-A scores (p < 0.01). Individuals with IBS and avoidant behavior had higher subscale scores of CARS (except those of controllability and attention to IBS symptoms) and higher HADS-A scores (p < 0.05). The hypothetical models containing ASI scores, subscale scores of CARS (except those of controllability), and HADS-A scores with and without attention to IBS symptoms exhibited a good fit.

Conclusion

Severe anxiety sensitivity in individuals with IBS related to their symptom-related cognition, and the altered cognition increases anxiety, leading to the possible development of a disabling condition.

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Acknowledgments

The copyright of Japanese version of the Rome II Modular Questionnaire attributes to Dr. S. Fukudo and Dr. M. Kanazawa. We thank them for granting us permission to use it.

Epilogue

The data for this paper was extracted from a database that contained data used in the following paper:

Sugaya N, Nomura S. Relationship between cognitive appraisals of symptoms and negative mood for subtypes of irritable bowel syndrome. BPS Med 2008; 2: 1–6.

The extracted data was reanalyzed with different dependent and independent variables than those in the abovementioned paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Project for Addictive Substances, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 2-1-6 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8506, Japan

    Nagisa Sugaya

  2. Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan

    Shinobu Nomura & Hironori Shimada

Authors
  1. Nagisa Sugaya
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  2. Shinobu Nomura
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  3. Hironori Shimada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nagisa Sugaya.

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Sugaya, N., Nomura, S. & Shimada, H. Relationship Between Cognitive Factors and Anxiety in Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Int.J. Behav. Med. 19, 308–315 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-011-9195-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-011-9195-0

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