Rectal Visceral Sensitivity in Women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome without Psychiatric Comorbidity Compared with Healthy Volunteers

Table 3

Visceral sensitivity of rectal barostat measurements in 17 diarrhoea predominant IBS patients, 19 IBS patients with alternating stool habits, and 9 healthy volunteers. Values are mean ± SD; pressure is reported in mmHg and volume in Ml; of the diarrhoea predominant IBS patients only 12 reported the first feeling of gas, 16 the first feeling of stool and 14 reported VAS at the discomfort threshold. Of the IBS patients with alternating stool habits only 17 reported the first feeling of stool.

	IBS patients		Healthy volunteers
	Diarrhoea predominant	Alternating stool habits
Gas thresholds
Pressure	8.7 ± 4.5	11.8 ± 6.3	12.0 ± 5.7
Volume	54 ± 40	69 ± 49	98 ± 67
Stool thresholds
Pressure	14.8 ± 6.6	15.8 ± 7.5	16.4 ± 5.8
Volume	85 ± 60*	108 ± 69	145 ± 77
Discomfort thresholds
Pressure	26.6 ± 9.6	29.7 ± 8.3	31.6 ± 6.1
Volume	168 ± 60^**	208 ± 63	249 ± 67
VAS	6.3 ± 1.8	6.4 ± 1.9	6.9 ± 0.9

^∗𝑃<.05 from healthy volunteers ^∗∗𝑃<.01 from healthy volunteers