A Randomized Trial of a Group-Based Integrative Medicine Approach Compared to Waitlist Control on Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptoms in Adults

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic debilitating functional gastrointestinal disorder that affects a large proportion of the general population. Dietary and mind-body approaches have shown some effectiveness in reducing IBS symptoms. Objectives: The purpose of this project was to test the feasibility of a low cost, group-oriented integrative medicine approach to IBS, and to explore whether such an approach improves participant outcomes. Methods: This was a randomized-controlled trial involving a 4-week group-oriented treatment intervention combining dietary intervention and mind-body therapies followed by 8-weeks of telephonic health coaching. Differences between the intervention and control groups on IBS-specific measures were examined at baseline, 4, 8, and 12-week. Results: Fifty-two participants completed the study, 30 in the control group and 22 in the intervention group. On the IBS Symptom Severity Score, at 4 weeks the intervention group showed statistically significant improvement compared to the control group (p <.02), which was sustained at the 8 and 12-week data points as well, with the proportion of the intervention group experiencing moderate to severe symptoms decreasing from 81.3% at baseline to 45% at week 4 and 54.5% at week 12. A statistically significant improvement was also seen on the CES-D measure of depression between baseline and week 12 in the intervention group compared to controls. On the IBS Quality of Life measure we did not observe a statistically significant difference between the groups. Conclusions: This low-cost, group-oriented intervention approach offers a strategy to address the challenge of access to this type of integrative approach for patients of low socioeconomic status or limited means.