Quality of Life in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Narrative Overview

Context:healthrelated quality of life (hrqol) is increasingly important in the assessment of chronic conditions, especially for irritable bowel syndrome (ibs), which has no associated mortality, but is prevalent and significantly impacts patient’s lives. diseasespecific instruments such as the irritable bowel syndrome quality of life instrument (ibsqol), in addition to generic instruments such as the short form (sf)36, are useful in measuring healthrelated quality of life, and have been shown to be reliable in assessing disease severity and as an endpoint to monitor treatment response. we reviewed the impact of ibs on patients’ hrqol, the factors causing hrqol impairments, and the utility of hrqol instruments in the assessment of ibs.evidence acquisition:we performed electronic literature searches in medline, the cochrane library, and digestive disease week (ddw) meeting abstracts. across all databases searched, common keywords included irritable bowel syndrome, quality of life and health related quality of life. for databases that accommodated boolean searches, terms specifically related to qol and military were added.results:we summarized the data available in the literature to show that hrqol is poorer in patients with ibs compared to healthy controls, and compared to most serious chronic conditions. there are several factors that contribute to hrqol impairments in ibs, of which gastrointestinal symptoms, physical comorbidities, psychosocial factors and demographics all play significant roles.conclusions:it is crucial for clinicians to be aware of the importance of measuring hrqol. understanding the factors causing impairment of hrqol is also important for clinicians seeing these patients as it helps to individualise treatment and treat the patient more holistically, to achieve greater patient satisfaction.