Altered profiles of fecal metabolites correlate with visceral hypersensitivity and may contribute to symptom severity of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Table 1 Demographics, clinical characteristics and psychological states of study subjects

Features	IBS-D patients	Controls	P value
n	30	15	NA
Age (yr)	30.0 (28.0, 41.3)	28.0 (25.0, 37.0)	0.299
Gender (male:female)	22:8	11:4	1.000
Body mass index (kg/m2)	23.8 ± 3.9	22.4 ± 2.8	0.219
Duration of disease (yr)	7.5 (1.5, 10.1)	NA	NA
IBS-SSS	261.7 ± 40.4	NA	NA
Severity of abdominal pain	1.0 (1.0, 2.0)b	0.0 (0.0, 0.0)	< 0.001
Frequency of abdominal pain	2.0 (1.0, 4.0)b	0.0 (0.0, 0.0)	< 0.001
BSFS score	6.0 (6.0,6.0)b	4.0 (4.0, 4.0)	< 0.001
HADS anxiety score	6.0 (3.0, 9.0)b	2.0 (1.0, 4.0)	0.002
HADS depression score	4.0 (1.0, 7.3)	2.0 (2.0, 5.0)	0.350
VSI score	34.0 (17.0, 45.3)b	5.0 (2.0, 15.0)	< 0.001

^bP < 0.01 vs controls. The data are presented as the mean ± SD or the median (Q1, Q3). IBS-D: Irritable bowel syndrome with predominant diarrhea; IBS-SSS: IBS symptom severity scale; BSFS: Bristol stool form scale; HADS: Hospital anxiety and depression scale; VSI: Visceral sensitivity index; NA: Not applicable.