Sleep disturbances in the irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia are independent of psychological distress: a population-based study of 1322 Australians.

BACKGROUND

Psychological distress, strongly associated with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDS), likely plays a central role in the pathophysiology. The role of sleep disturbances in FGIDs is unclear, and an association with psychological factors is uncertain.

AIM

To determine whether sleep disturbances are associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD) and if a potential association is explained by psychological distress.

METHODS

Adult sample randomly selected from a region in New South Wales, Australia in 2015 who returned a follow-up mail survey in 2018 (response rate, 60.5%) that contained questions on IBS, FD, sleep (MOS-Sleep Scale) and psychological distress (Kessler 6 scale).

RESULTS

Among this population, 10.4% (95% CI 8.8-12.2) and 17.9% (95% CI 15.9-20.1) met Rome III criteria for IBS and FD, respectively. The prevalence of any sleep disturbance at least most of the time was common, with a significantly higher prevalence in FGID (IBS and/or FD) compared with the remaining population (41.8% vs 32.2%, P = 0.003). The total sleep problem index was significantly higher for IBS (OR = 1.71 [95% CI 1.29-2.27], P < 0.0001) (IBS-diarrhoea predominant and IBS-mixed but not IBS-constipation) and FD (OR = 1.80 [1.43-2.26], P < 0.0001) (both epigastric pain syndrome and postprandial distress syndrome) even after adjusting for age, sex and psychological distress.

CONCLUSION

Both IBS and FD, and most of their major subtypes except IBS-C, are associated with a range of sleep disturbances. These sleep problems do not appear to be explained by psychological factors and may play an independent role in the pathophysiology.