The prevalence of obsessive–compulsive disorder in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: A cross‑sectional study

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases, and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the main causes of this disease. The present study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of OCD in patients with IBS.

The present research is a cross‑sectional survey study. The research sample included 120 patients with IBS who referred to Imam Reza Hospital and gastrointestinal clinics in Kermanshah (Iran) in the 3 months of April, May, July in 2019 that were selected using the census sampling method, and demographic information, clinical and medical records were collected. Data analysis was performed using frequency, percentage, and Chi‑square.

Among the patients who were studied, 58 of them (48.3%) were women and 62 (51.7%) were men, the results showed that the prevalence of OCD in patients with IBS was 14.96 and the symptoms of washing, checking, skepticism and slowness‑repetition had the highest prevalence, respectively. These symptoms were more common in women than in men. There was also a significant relation between OCD prevalence in patients with IBS and with female gender, age‑range 30–21 years, single, and history of OCD in the patient’s immediate family and close relatives (P < 0.05), but there was no significant relationship between OCD prevalence in patients with IBS and level of education, occupation, income status, and place of residence

Due to the high prevalence of OCD in patients with IBS, the interaction of gastroenterologists and psychiatrists to treat irritable bowel syndrome is very important.