OBJECTIVETo evaluate and compare the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) on patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

METHODSFollowing the Rome III Criteria, 411 IBS patients and 430 healthy people were selected as subjects,who were outpatients in Department of Gastroenterology, 2nd Hospital of Xi' an Jiaotong University and Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital from July 2006 to April 2007. Using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). This study compared the SF-36 scale scores of IBS patients with the healthy people.

RESULTSOn all of the 8 SF-36 scales, patients with IBS scored significantly lower than healthy people (P < 0.001). Decrements in HRQOL were most predominant in general health perception and role limitations caused by emotional health problem, with scores of 33.5 + 16.9, 40.8 +/- 25.1 respectively. The emotional well-being and energy/fatigue scale scores were also quite low (42.2 +/- 19.3,43.1 +/- 20.2,respectively). They also scored significantly lower on both physical summary. and mental summary scores (P < 0.001). IBS patients were classified into IBS with constipation,IBS with diarrhea, mixed IBS and unsubtyped IBS subgroups, with percentages as 25.3%, 50.1%, 11.2% and 13.4% respectively.

CONCLUSIONIBS patients experienced great impairment in HRQOL. These data offered further insight into the impact of IBS on patient functional status and well-being.