Chronic gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life in the Korean population

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population n (%)

Variable	Male	Female	Total
	(n = 762)	(n = 655)	(n = 1417)
Age
18-29	163 (11.5)	151 (10.7)	314 (22.2)
30-39	132 (9.3)	110 (7.8)	242 (17.1)
40-49	169 (11.9)	146 (10.3)	315 (22.2)
50-59	150 (10.6)	116 (8.2)	266 (18.8)
60-69	148 (10.4)	132 (9.3)	280 (19.7)
Median age (yr)	45	44	44
Mean age (yr)	44.1 ± 14.4	43.7 ± 15.1	43.9 ±14.8
BMI (kg/m2)	22.8	22.0	22.4
Ever tobacco smoker (%)	67.8a	4.0	38.3
Alcohol use (> 75 g/wk) (%)	36.4a	2.6	20.7
Marital status (single)1 (%)	26.5	28.7	27.5
Employed (%)	85.4a	45.6	67.0
Presence of religion (%)	50.5b	65.0	57.2
High school graduate (%)	57.0a	49.2	53.4
Economic status (%)
High	6.4	6.3	6.4
Middle	76.1	79.8	77.8
Low	17.5	13.9	15.8

¹Marital status was divided into single or married/living as a couple. Single status was extended to include unmarried persons, divorced individuals and those with a deceased spouse

^aP < 0.01,

^bP < 0.001 compared to female.

Table 2 Prevalence of chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, according to the Rome II criteria

	Respondent		Male	Female
	(n = 1417)		(n = 762)	(n = 655)
Chronic gastrointestinal symptoms	n	% (95% exact CI)	%	%
Globus	7	0.5 (0.2-1.0)	0.4	0.7
Chronic dysphagia	7	0.5 (0.2-1.0)	0.3	0.7
Rumination	0	0.0 (0.0-0.3)	0	0
Chronic chest pain	21	1.5 (0.9-2.3)	1.6	1.4
Chronic heartburn	24	1.7 (1.1-2.5)	1.8	1.6
Uninvestigated dyspepsia	166	11.7 (10.1-13.5)	10.8	12.8
IBS	31	2.2 (1.5-3.1)	1.8	2.6
IBS-D	13	0.9 (0.5-1.6)	1	0.8
IBS-C	12	0.8 (0.4-1.5)	0.1	1.7a
IBS-A	6	0.4 (0.2-0.9)	0.7	0.2
Chronic bloating	57	4.0 (3.1-5.2)	2.9	5.3
Chronic constipation	37	2.6 (1.8-3.6)	0.5	5.0a
Chronic diarrhea	11	0.8 (0.4-1.4)	0.8	0.8
Chronic incontinence	18	1.3 (0.8-2.0)	1.6	1.1

IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome; IBD-D: Diarrhea-predominant IBS; IBS-C: Constipation- predominant IBS; IBS-A: Alternating constipation and diarrhea IBS.

^aP < 0.05 (Fisher’s exact test) compared to male.

Table 3 Association between age and chronic gastrointestinal symptoms

Age	GERD	UD	IBS
18-29	1.0 (Reference)	1.0 (Reference)	1.0 (Reference)
30-39	0.48 (0.13-1.82)	2.12 (1.19-3.77)	1.15 (0.44-3.04)
40-49	1.14 (0.44-3.00)	1.39 (0.77-2.50)	0.56 (0.18-1.68)
50-59	1.23 (0.46-3.33)	2.28 (1.30-4.02)	0.68 (0.22-2.04)
60-69	3.30 (1.44-7.54)	3.00 (1.75 -5.14)	0.50 (0.15-1.63)

Values are shown as odds ratio and 95% confidence interval. GERD, gastroesophageal reflux disease; UD, uninvestigated dyspepsia; IBS, irritable bowel syndrome.

Table 4 Details of physician visits and use of medications n (%)

Variables	Men	Women	Total
	(n = 762)	(n = 655)	(n = 1417)
Experience (%) of any GI symptoms	366 (48.0)	351 (53.6)a	50.50
Experience (%) of visiting a physician due to GI symptoms	80 (10.5)	75 (11.5)	155 (10.9)
1-2/yr	42 (5.5)	47 (7.2)	89 (6.3)
3-5/yr	12 (1.6)	12 (1.8)	24 (1.7)
6-10/yr	8 (1.0)	4 (0.6)	12 (0.8)
> 10/yr	18 (2.4)	12 (1.8)	30 (2.1)
Use of medications
NSAIDs	27 (3.5)	54 (8.2)b	81 (5.7)
Antacids	35 (4.6)	28 (4.3)	63 (4.5)
H2RA	11 (1.4)	4 (0.6)	15 (1.1)
Medications for constipation	17 (2.2)	49 (7.5)b	66 (4.7)
Antihypertensive medications	17 (2.2)	18 (2.7)	35 (2.5)

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 compared to male.

Table 5 Comparison of SF-36 subscales between subjects without chronic GI symptoms, and those with GERD, UD and IBS

SF-36 Subscale	Subjects without CGIS (n = 1153)	GERD (n = 50)	UD (n = 166)	IBS (n = 31)
Physical functioning	87.6 ± 5.1	76.0 ± 6.2b	81.7 ± 5.4b	82.0 ± 66.8a
Role physical	80.1 ± 10.3	64.9 ± 12.4b	68.1 ± 10.9b	67.3 ± 13.7a
Bodily pain	89.3 ± 6.7	74.6 ± 8.1b	76.5 ± 7.1b	77.7 ± 8.9b
General health	68.8 ± 7.0	49.3 ± 8.5b	52.7 ± 7.5b	50.0 ± 9.4b
Vitality	57.6 ± 7.5	50.0 ± 9.0a	51.0 ± 7.9b	45.9 ± 10.0b
Social functioning	92.0 ± 4.9	88.3 ± 5.9	86.2 ± 5.2b	86.7 ± 6.6a
Role emotional	86.2 ± 10.4	80.7 ± 12.5	77.7 ± 11.0b	71.7 ± 13.8b
Mental health	77.7 ± 6.2	67.9 ± 7.5b	71.6 ± 6.6b	66.1 ± 8.3b

Note: Age, gender, education level and economic level adjusted mean and 95% confidence interval of SF-36 subscale. CGIS: Chronic GI symptom; GERD: Gastroesophageal reflux disease; UD: Uninvestigated dyspepsia; IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome. Comparisons were performed between GERD vs no CGIS, dyspepsia vs no CGIS, and IBS vs no CGIS. P value was adjusted by Bonferroni method.

^aP < 0.05 compared to subjects without chronic gastrointestinal symptom;

^bP < 0.01 compared to subjects without chronic gastrointestinal symptom.

Table 6 Multiple regression results: estimated coefficient of predictors of each SF-36 subscale domain

Variable	PF	RP	BP	GH	VT	SF	RE	MH
Female sex	-4.6	-9.6	-4.7	-5.3b	-4.3a	-3.6	-8.2	-1.8
Age1	-5.7c	-3.2	-1.3	-4.6b	-3.2a	-1.4	-1.2	-3.5b
Ever smoking	2.5	3	2	-2.6	2.3	2.4	3	1.3
Religion	4.1	9.7	-0.1	1.3	6.5a	-3.5	-3.5	2.3
< high school education	-6.7a	-5.8	-3	2.6	3.1	0.4	3.8	4.2
Low economic class	-2.8	-14.0a	-5.8	-3.3	-0.2	-3.9	-17.3	-0.2
Number of physician visit2	0.6	-4.8a	-4.8c	-4.1b	-1.9	-0.9	-4.8a	-3.5c
Presence of overlapping symptoms	-4.7	-3.5	-8.3a	-6.9	1.6	-3.9	-5.5	-8.3b
R2	0.375	0.134	0.165	0.19	0.09	0.09	0.124	0.177

PF: Physical function; RP: Role-physical; BP: Bodily pain; GH: General health; VT: Vitality; SF: Social function; RE: Role-emotion; MH: Mental health.

¹Age variables are categorized by 10 yr intervals;

²Number of physician visits for gastrointestinal symptoms: 0/yr(0), 1-2/yr(1), 3-5/yr(2), 6-10/yr(3), > 10/yr(4).

^aP < 0.05;

^bP < 0.01;

^cP < 0.001.