ArticlePloS one2015
Change in Quality of Life for Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome following Referral to a Gastroenterologist: A Cohort Study.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Cost of the Cure: Antibiotic Exposure as a Risk Factor for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Examination of Methods to Estimate Productivity Losses in an Economic Evaluation: Using Foodborne Illness as a Case Study.PharmacoEconomics · 2025Article
- Quality of life, functional impairment and healthcare experiences of patients with irritable bowel syndrome in Norway: an online survey.BMC gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Allostatic Interoceptive Overload Across Psychiatric and Neurological Conditions.Biological psychiatry · 2025Review
- Article
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patient Experience: A Survey of Patient-Reported Symptoms by Irritable Bowel Syndrome Subtype and Impact on Quality of Life.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2023Article
- Improvement of bowel movements among people with a sedentary lifestyle after prebiotic snack supply - preliminary study.Przeglad gastroenterologiczny · 2022Article
- Article
- Global burden of irritable bowel syndrome: trends, predictions and risk factors.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2020Review
- The role of the brain-gut-microbiota axis in psychology: The importance of considering gut microbiota in the development, perpetuation, and treatment of psychological disorders.Brain and behavior · 2019Review
- Dietitian first gastroenterology clinic: an initiative to reduce wait lists and wait times for gastroenterology outpatients in a tertiary hospital service.Frontline gastroenterology · 2019Article
- Healthcare use by 30,000 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in France: a 5-year retrospective and one-year prospective national observational study.BMC gastroenterology · 2019Observational
- Quality of life and utility decrement associated with Clostridium difficile infection in a French hospital setting.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2019Article
- Impact of serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate therapy on irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease: a survey of patient perspective.Patient preference and adherence · 2017Article
- Efficacy of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trials.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIrritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic functional condition, considerably reduces quality of life (QoL) and referral to gastroenterology is common. Until now, however, the impact of seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS on patients' QoL and utility has not been assessed.
methodsPatients referred with "probable IBS" to the Nottingham Treatment Centre between October 2012 and March 2014 were invited to complete a QoL questionnaire (EuroQol-5 Dimension) before their first appointment. Patients with confirmed IBS who completed this baseline assessment were sent follow-up questionnaires three and twelve months later. Global QoL and utility were measured at each time point and change from baseline calculated. Paired t-tests analysed the significance of any change.
resultsOf 205 invited patients, 69 were eligible and recruited. Response at three and twelve months was 45% and 17% respectively. Median global QoL at baseline was 67.5 (Interquartile range [IQR] 50.0 to 80.0), with a mean increase of 3.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] -5.38 to 11.88) three months later and a mean decrease of -1.82 (95% CI -16.01 to 12.38) after one year. The median utility at baseline was 0.76 (IQR 0.69 to 0.80), with a mean increase of 0.06 (95%CI -0.01 to 0.14) at three months and no change, 0.00 (-0.16 to 0.16), after one year.
conclusionPatients experienced a small but not statistically significant increase in QoL and utility three months after seeing a gastroenterologist for IBS, which was not maintained. Gastroenterology referral does not appear to appreciably improve Qol for most people with IBS.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.