Associations between eating behaviour, emotional state, and symptom severity in young women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder. GI-specific anxiety, stress, negative affect, and difficulties in emotion regulation are central to the severity of IBS symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the association between eating behaviour, emotional state and the severity of IBS symptoms in adult women with IBS. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted as an online survey using the following measures: Irritable Bowel Symptom Severity Scoring Scale (IBS-SSS), Visceral Sensitivity Index (VSI), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire – R18 (TFEQ-R18). In total, 58 women participated in the study (mean age = 23.7). The study was pre- registered at https://osf.io/dws45. Results: The VSI and DASS-21 scales predicted the IBS-SSS, adj. R2 = .45, F(2, 55) = 24.24, p < .001. An exploratory analysis found a model with a better fit: the VSI, TFEQ-R18-CR (cognitive restraint subscale), and DASS-21 scales predicted the IBS-SSS, adj. R2 = .50, F(3, 54) = 19.85, p < .001. Discussion: Our results showed that GI-specific anxiety and negative emotional states (stress, depression, and anxiety) predicted IBS symptom severity in young females.