Daily Stress and IBS Symptoms Closely Influence Each Other Throughout the Day

A US prospective real-world study of 357 adults with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) found that higher daily stress levels were strongly associated with worse IBS symptom severity, and stress and symptoms appeared to reinforce each other especially from the afternoon into the evening. Researchers followed adults meeting Rome IV criteria for IBS during the baseline phase of a randomized clinical trial, combining standard assessments of chronic stress and IBS severity with a 7-day ecological momentary assessment in which participants reported momentary stress and symptom severity three times daily. Individuals with higher average stress during the study week experienced more severe IBS symptoms overall, and periods of stress above a person’s usual level were independently linked to worse symptoms, even after accounting for chronic stress and baseline symptom severity. Importantly, afternoon stress predicted greater symptom severity later in the evening, while worse afternoon symptoms also predicted increased evening stress, suggesting a bidirectional relationship. However, these associations weakened or became inverse overnight between evening and the next morning. The findings highlight the dynamic interaction between stress and IBS symptoms in everyday life and suggest that targeted within-day stress management strategies may help improve symptom control in IBS. Source: https://www.cghjournal.org/