Prevalence of Psychiatric Comorbidities in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Their Quality of Sleep and Dream Pattern

Abstract

BACKGROUND Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder. Goal was to find the prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidities in IBS, and assess their sleep quality and dream pattern. Association between psychiatric comorbidities, sleep quality and dream pattern were also assessed. METHODS This is a cross sectional study done in 100 patients diagnosed with IBS attending the OPD of Department of Gastroenterology, Government Medical College, Thrissur, from June 2017 to July 2018. Performa includes the socio-demographic details, SCID-5 questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and pragmatic questionnaire for assessing dreams. Statistical analysis was done using chi square test, p value was set at < 0.05 using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS 78% of study subjects had psychiatric comorbidities and 51% had poor sleep quality. 79% of the sample reported having dreams; among them 18% dreamt about pain, 15% dreamt about their bowels, 12% dreamt about other abdominal symptoms, 14% dreamt about toilets and 9% dreamt about soiling themselves. Significant association was noted between different psychiatric co-morbidities and sleep quality, also with various dream patterns. CONCLUSIONS Our analysis shows psychiatric co-morbidities and poor sleep quality has significant association with dreams in IBS patients. Possibility of using dream pattern as a prognostic indicator in IBS has to be studied further.