P1431A - Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in an Underserved Community Internal Medicine Practice in Charlotte, North Carolina

Darius Whitmore-Carter, BS¹, Jessica Sang, MD², Suneet Kaur, MD³, Elyse Thakur, PhD², Jason Baker, PhD², Baha Moshiree, MD³, Linsey Spence, DO^3
1Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; ²Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC; ³Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC

Introduction: Irritable Bowel Syndrome is highly prevalent among the general population, and contributes to overall healthcare costs and work absenteeism in the US. Determining the prevalence of IBS across different socioeconomic groups and ethnicities who may be at higher risk of job insecurity is even more vital now in the post-pandemic era.

Methods: We collected consecutive surveys from patients age ≥ 18 male and female seen in an underserved clinic staffed by Internal Medicine physicians in a neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina (April – May 2021). Surveys were distributed to all patients regardless of reason for presentation to the clinic and consisted of questions pertaining to sex, age, race/ethnicity, & GI symptoms that would qualify for the ROME IV diagnosis of IBS and its subtypes. Pearson chi-square analyses were performed using the Fisher’s Exact Test. P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 259 (mean age of 56.7±14.4; Age Range: 23-91; 64.3% female; 71.4% African-American) were included in this analysis. The primary language for the respondents were 90.2% English and 9.8% Spanish. Rome IV IBS symptom criteria was met by 4.1% (n=9): 55.5% IBS-M and 45% IBS-D. 88.9% of the participants fulfilling the Rome IV criteria were female. No significant differences were seen between English (ES) and Spanish (SS) dominant language participants related to GI symptoms qualifying for Rome IV IBS criteria [Table 1]. Similar to dominant language, no significant differences between male and female participants related to GI symptoms qualifying for Rome IV IBS was seen. The most commonly reported symptom by all was constipation (20.7% ES), (23.5% SS), followed by diarrhea (17.3% ES), (16.7% SS). Recurring abdominal pain was more commonly reported by ES subjects (17.8%) versus (8.3%) SS (nonsignificant). Pain with defecation was more common in SS than ES (P=.32).

Discussion: In our primary care community practice, the prevalence of IBS-type symptoms was similar to the general population, but individual symptoms of diarrhea, constipation and recurrent abdominal pain were more frequent and our average age was higher than what is seen in the general population of IBS patients. Since patients seen in this underserved primary care practice were not necessarily being seen for their GI complaints, an unmet need exists for screening patients from these communities without access to gastroenterologists.


Disclosures:


Darius Whitmore-Carter, BS¹, Jessica Sang, MD², Suneet Kaur, MD³, Elyse Thakur, PhD², Jason Baker, PhD², Baha Moshiree, MD³, Linsey Spence, DO³. P1431A - Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in an Underserved Community Internal Medicine Practice in Charlotte, North Carolina, ACG 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Las Vegas, Nevada: American College of Gastroenterology.