Trial reportWorld journal of gastroenterology2009
A randomized controlled trial of imipramine in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
Trial report in World journal of gastroenterology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Safety of Pharmacotherapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The American journal of gastroenterology · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy and Safety of Antidepressants for the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis.PloS one · 2015Pooled it
- Irritable bowel syndrome.BMJ clinical evidence · 2012Pooled it
- Bulking agents, antispasmodics and antidepressants for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- 2025 Seoul Consensus on Clinical Practice Guidelines for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility · 2025Review
- Shortcomings of Trials Assessing Antidepressants in the Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Critical Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Review
- Review
- Pharmacological Therapies and Their Clinical Targets in Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Diarrhea.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Review
- High Rates of Non-Response Across Treatment Attempts in Chronic Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Results From a Follow-Up Study in Tertiary Care.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Guidelines on the management of irritable bowel syndrome: In memory of Professor Witold Bartnik.Przeglad gastroenterologiczny · 2018Article
- Antidepressants vs. Placebo for the Treatment of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2018Article
- Changes in duodenal enteroendocrine cells in patients with irritable bowel syndrome following dietary guidance.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2017Article
- Dietary guidance and ileal enteroendocrine cells in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2016Article
- Changes in small intestinal chromogranin A-immunoreactive cell densities in patients with irritable bowel syndrome after receiving dietary guidance.International journal of molecular medicine · 2016Article
- Dietary guidance normalizes large intestinal endocrine cell densities in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2016Article
- Effect of dietary management on the gastric endocrine cells in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2015Article
- The effect of curcumin on the brain-gut axis in rat model of irritable bowel syndrome: involvement of 5-HT-dependent signaling.Metabolic brain disease · 2015Article
- Increased chromogranin a cell density in the large intestine of patients with irritable bowel syndrome after receiving dietary guidance.Gastroenterology research and practice · 2015Article
- [Psychopharmacological treatment in patients with somatoform disorders and functional body syndromes].Der Nervenarzt · 2012Article
- Psychopharmacological treatment and psychological interventions in irritable bowel syndrome.Gastroenterology research and practice · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimTo study the efficacy of low-dose imipramine in relieving symptoms associated with the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
methodsA randomized, double-blind trial of 25 mg imipramine vs matched placebo for 12 wk was performed. Doubling the dose was allowed once at week 2 in case of an unsatisfactory early response. Primary efficacy variables were subjective global symptom relief and quality of life (QoL) using SF-36 at week 12.
resultsOne hundred and seven patients were enrolled by advertisement or referral by general practitioners and 56 (31 imipramine: 25 placebo) completed the 16-wk study. Baseline characteristics were comparable. A high overall dropout rate was noted in the imipramine and placebo arms (47.5% vs 47.9%, P > 0.05), a mean of 25.0 and 37.4 d from enrollment, respectively (P < 0.05). At the end of 12 wk, there was a significant difference in global symptom relief with imipramine over placebo (per-protocol: 80.6% vs 48.0%, P = 0.01) and a trend on intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis (42.4% vs 25.0%, P = 0.06). This improvement was evident early and persisted to week 16 (P = 0.024 and 0.053 by per-protocol and ITT analyses, respectively). Mean cumulative and component-specific SF-36 scores improved in the imipramine group only (per-protocol, P < 0.01). Drug-related adverse events leading to patient dropout were more common in the imipramine group (25.4% vs 12.5%, P > 0.05).
conclusionImipramine may be effective in the treatment of IBS patients and is associated with improved QoL. Careful patient selection, initiation of a low dose with gradual escalation and monitoring for side effects may result in an improved therapeutic response.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.