The relationship between abdominal obesity and irritable bowel syndrome in adults

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and abdominal obesity. Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, consisting of 18-49 year old patients who applied to Marmara University School of Medicine’s Family Medicine outpatient clinics and who accepted to participate. A questionnaire was applied using face-to-face interview technique; anthropometric measurements were obtained as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). The diagnosis of IBS was made for those who fully met the diagnostic criteria of ROME IV-IBS and had no alarm symptoms. Abdominal obesity of the participants was determined via anthropometric measurements. Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS 20 package program. Results: A total of 487 patients participated in the study: 77% female, 33% male; mean age value 33.71±8.59 years. The prevalence of IBS was 24.2% (n=118) [F:27.2% (n=102), M:14.3% (n=16)]. Abdominal obesity prevalence was 31.2% (n=152) [F:24.5% (n=92, M:53.6% (n=60)]. There is no statistically significant difference in terms of abdominal obesity with and without IBS (p>0.05). Conclusion: In this study no statistically significant relationship has been detected between IBS and abdominal obesity.

Keywords

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Abdominal obesity
• Central obesity

References

1. Heidelbaugh J, Hungin P, Guest Eds, editors. Drossman DA, Chang L, Kellow J, Chey WD, Tack J, Whitehead WE, editors. The Rome IV Primary Care Committee. Rome IV functional gastrointestinal disorders for primary care and non-GI clinicians. 1st ed. Raleigh, NC: The Rome Foundation, 2016.
2. Lovell RM, Ford AC. Global prevalence of and risk factors for irritable bowel syndrome: a meta-analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2012 ;10:712-1. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2012.02.029
3. Celebi S, Acik Y, Deveci SE, et al.Epidemiological features of irritable bowel syndrome in a Turkish urban society. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2004;19:738-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1400- 1746.2004.03367.x
4. Özden A, Köksal ŞA, Oğuz D, et al. Türkiye’de birinci basamak sağlık kurumlarında irritabl barsak sendromu görülme sıklığı. Akademik Gastroenteroloji Dergisi 2006; 5: 4-15.
5. Lee OY, Mayer EA, Schmulson M, Chang L, Naliboff B. Genderrelated differences in IBS symptoms. Am J Gastroenterol 2001;96:2184-93. doi:10.1016/S0002-9270(01)02524-2
6. Bennett G, Talley NJ. Irritable bowel syndrome in the elderly. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol 2002 ;16:63-76. doi:10.1053/ bega.2001.02661
7. Longstreth GF, Wilson A, Knight K, et al. Irritable bowel syndrome, health care use, and costs: a U.S. managed care perspective. Am J Gastroenterol 2003;98:600-7. doi:10.1016/ S0002-9270(02)06018-5
8. Obezite, T. E. M. D., ve Hipertansiyon Çalışma Grubu. Obezite tanı ve tedavi kılavuzu. Türkiye Endokrinoloji ve Metabolizma Derneği. Ankara: Tıpkı Basım, 2017: 11-19.

9. Satman I, Omer B, Tutuncu Y, et al. Twelve-year trends in the prevalence and risk factors of diabetes and prediabetes in Turkish adults. Eur J Epidemiol 2013;28:169-80. doi: 10.1007/ s10654.013.9771-5
10. World Health Organization. Waist circumference and waisthip ratio : report of a WHO expert consultation, Geneva, 8-11 December 2008. World Health Organization 2011. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/44583 Accessed on: 27.09.2021
11. Balkau B, Deanfield JE, Després JP, et al. International Day for the Evaluation of Abdominal Obesity (IDEA): a study of waist circumference, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus in 168,000 primary care patients in 63 countries. Circulation 2007;116:1942-51. doi: 10.1161/circulationaha.106.676379
12. John BJ, Irukulla S, Abulafi AM, Kumar D, Mendall MA. Systematic review: adipose tissue, obesity and gastrointestinal diseases. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2006;23: 1511-23. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2006.02915.x
13. Liu P, Ma F , Lou H, Liu Y.The utility of fat mass index vs.body mass index and percentage of body fat in the screening of metabolic syndrome. BMC Public Health 2013:13:629. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-629.
14. Yamakage H, Ito R, Tochiya M, et al. The utility of dual bioelectrical impedance analysis in detecting intra-abdominal fat area in obese patients during weight reduction therapy in comparison with waist circumference and abdominal CT. Endocr J 2014;61:807-19.doi: 10.1507/endocrj.ej14-0092
15. Gómez-Ambrosi J, González-Crespo I, Catalán V, et al. Clinical usefulness of abdominal bioimpedance (ViScan) in the determination of visceral fat and its application in the diagnosis and management of obesity and its comorbidities, Clin Nutr 2018 ;37:580-9. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2017.01.010.
16. Le Pluart D, Sabaté JM, Bouchoucha M, Hercberg S, Benamouzig R, Julia C. Functional gastrointestinal disorders in 35,447 adults and their association with body mass index. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2015;41:758-67. doi: 10.1111/ apt.13143
17. Ho W, Spiegel BM. The relationship between obesity and functional gastrointestinal disorders: causation, association, or neither? Gastroenterol Hepatol (N Y) 2008;4:572-8.
18. Pickett-Blakely O. Obesity and irritable bowel syndrome: a comprehensive review. Gastroenterol Hepatol (N Y) 2014;10:411-6.
19. Lee CG, Lee JK, Kang YS, et al. Visceral abdominal obesity is associated with an increased risk of irritable bowel syndrome. Am J Gastroenterol 2015;110:310-9.doi: 10.1038/ajg.2014.422.
20. Whitehead EE, Palsson OS, MALvT, Sperber A, BS, Tack J, Walker LS, YY . The Rome IV Committees, editors. Development and validation of the ROME IV diagnostic questionnaires. In: Drossman DA, Chang LC, Kellow WJ, Tack J, Whitehead WE, editors. ROME IV diagnostic questionnaires and tables for investigators and clinicians. Raleigh, NC: The Rome Foundation, 2016: 43-92.
21. Nagata N, Sakamoto K, Arai T, et al. Effect of body mass index and intra-abdominal fat measured by computed tomography on the risk of bowel symptoms. PLoS One 2015 23;10:e0123993. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0123993
22. Whitehead WE, Palsson O, Jones KR. Systematic review of the comorbidity of irritable bowel syndrome with other disorders: what are the causes and implications? Gastroenterology 2002; 122: 1140-56. doi: 10.1053/gast.2002.32392
23. Hausteiner-Wiehle C, Henningsen P. Irritable bowel syndrome: relations with functional, mental, and somatoform disorders. World J Gastroenterol 2014;20:6024-30. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20. i20.6024
24. Nam SY, Choi IJ, Ryu KH, Park BJ, Kim HB, Nam BH. Abdominal visceral adipose tissue volume is associated with increased risk of erosive esophagitis in men and women. Gastroenterology 2010;139:1902-11.e2. doi: 10.1053/j. gastro.2010.08.019
25. Carter D, Beer-Gabel M, Tzur D, et al. Predictive factors for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome in a large cohort of 440,822 young adults. J Clin Gastroenterol 2015;49:300-5. doi: 10.1097/mcg.000.000.0000000114
26. Reding KW, Cain KC, Jarrett ME, Eugenio MD, Heitkemper MM. Relationship between patterns of alcohol consumption and gastrointestinal symptoms among patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Am J Gastroenterol 2013;108:270-6. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2012.414