Does Irritable Bowel Syndrome Predispose to Unnecessary Abdominal Surgery?

Some study results have suggested that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) undergo abdominal surgeries more often than patients without IBS do. To explore this association, researchers at San Diego's Kaiser Health Plan analyzed questionnaires from the health screenings of nearly 90,000 adult members.

Diagnoses of IBS were reported by 5% of patients. In multivariable analyses that were adjusted for numerous demographic and clinical characteristics, patients with IBS were significantly more likely than patients without IBS to have undergone cholecystectomy (odds ratio, 2.09), appendectomy (OR, 1.45), hysterectomy (OR, 1.70), or back surgery (OR, 1.22), but not coronary artery surgery or peptic ulcer surgery.