Abuse history affects pain regulation in women with irritable bowel syndrome

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Public release date: 1-Feb-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uoc--aha012508.php

Contact: Champeau

rchampeau@...

University of California - Los Angeles

Abuse history affects pain regulation in women with irritable bowel syndrome

FINDINGS:

UCLA and University of North Carolina researchers have found that women

with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who have experienced sexual and/or

physical abuse may have a heightened brain response to pain that makes

them more sensitive to abdominal discomfort. IBS is a condition that

affects 10 to 15 percent of the population and causes gastrointestinal

discomfort along with diarrhea, constipation or both.

Researchers used brain imaging to show that patients with IBS who also

had a background of abuse were not as able to turn off a pain modulation

mechanism in the brain as effectively as were IBS patients who had not

suffered abuse.

IMPACT:

According to previous studies, more than 50 percent of patients with IBS

have been physically or sexually abused at some time in their lives. The

new finding may help explain why those in this subset of IBS patients

experience greater pain and poorer health outcomes than others with the

disorder. Such insight provides a greater understanding of how the

disorder develops and may offer new pathways for treatment. Brain

imaging studies were performed at the UCLA Brain Mapping Center.

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FUNDING:

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIDDK and NCCAM).

AUTHORS:

The following authors are available to comment: Dr. Emeran Mayer,

professor of medicine, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Dr.

Drossman, professor of medicine, and Dr. Yehuda Ringel, lead

study author and assistant professor of medicine, both at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

JOURNAL:

The research appears in the Feb. 1 online edition of the peer-reviewed

journal Gastroenterology.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD

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