Mortality Risk in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Results From a Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study
Kyle Staller, Ola Olén, Jonas Söderling, Björn Roelstraete, Hans Törnblom, Hamed Khalili, Amit D. Joshi, Long H. Nguyen, Mingyang Song, Braden Kuo, Andrew T. Chan, Jonas F. Ludvigsson
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Mortality concern is a frequent driver of care seeking in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Data on mortality in IBS are scarce, and population-based studies have been limited in size. We examined mortality in IBS. METHODS: A nationwide, matched, population-based cohort study was conducted in Sweden. We identified 45,524 patients undergoing a colorectal biopsy at any of Sweden's 28 pathology departments and with a diagnosis of IBS from 2002 to 2016 according to the National Patient Register, a nationwide registry of inpatient and outpatient specialty care. We compared the mortality risk between these individuals with IBS and age- and sex-matched reference individuals (n = 217,316) from the general population and siblings (n = 53,228). In separate analyses, we examined the role of mucosal appearance for mortality in IBS. Finally, we examined mortality in 41,427 patients with IBS not undergoing a colorectal biopsy. Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for death. RESULTS: During follow-up, there were 3,290 deaths in individuals with IBS (9.4/1,000 person-years) compared with 13,255 deaths in reference individuals (7.9/1,000 person-years), resulting in an HR of 1.10 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-1.14). After adjustment for confounders, IBS was not linked to mortality (HR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.92-1.00). The risk estimates were neutral when patients with IBS were compared with their siblings. The underlying mucosal appearance on biopsy had only a marginal impact on mortality, and patients with IBS not undergoing a colorectal biopsy were at no increased risk of death (HR = 1.02; 95% CI = 0.99-1.06). DISCUSSION: IBS does not seem to confer an increased risk of death.