Olmsted County Residents Enhance Medical Knowledge of GI Disorders

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

ROCHESTER, Minn. — After a 15-year study of Olmsted County, Minn. residents, Mayo Clinic researchers found that most people with functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders continue to have symptoms for more than a decade, but specific symptoms change over time. Results of the study will be presented Wednesday, May 24, in Los Angeles at Digestive Disease Week® 2006.

"To realize how common gastrointestinal symptoms really are, all you need to do is walk down a supermarket aisle and glance at the vast array of products to relieve acid reflux, constipation, diarrhea and abdominal pain," says G. Richard Locke III, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and co-author of this study. "Our goal with this study was to follow a group of adults over a 15-year period to learn more about the long-term natural history of stomach and bowel symptoms."

Dr. Locke, along with Nicholas Talley, M.D., Ph.D., another Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and co-author of this study, and their team of researchers mailed more than 14,000 surveys to random samples of adults in Olmsted County over the past 15 years. Questions pertained to the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain and indigestion. The surveys also requested information on risk factors, including body weight, sleep, diet, exercise and family members with similar symptoms.

"Not surprisingly, our study found that GI symptoms are very common. For example, one out of five people has episodes of abdominal pain and one out of 10 has symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome," explains Dr. Locke.

Throughout the study, the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome and abdominal pain remained stable, but the occurrence of indigestion increased fourfold. In general, over the 15-year period, symptoms resolved in one-third of those affected, symptoms persisted in one-third, and symptoms changed in one-third.

"This study is one of the first of its kind, so we're grateful to Olmsted County residents for teaching us more about their GI symptoms — a subject that most people are uncomfortable discussing," says Dr. Locke.

The next step for this research is to gather more information about why these GI symptoms changed over time, including research on how the symptoms may or may not be associated with genetics and other risk factors.

"We started out with an 80 percent response rate to our surveys, but recently responses have been as low as 20 percent," says Dr. Locke. "In order for us to continue our research and learn more about how to best treat these GI symptoms, we still need help from Olmsted County residents. By responding to our surveys, you are enhancing the medical knowledge of GI disorders for researchers around the world."

Other investigators involved in this study are Smita Halder, MBChB, of Hope Hospital, University of Manchester, United Kingdom; and Cathy Schleck, Alan Zinsmeister, Ph.D., and L. Joseph Melton III, M.D., all of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

This research was supported by an unrestricted grant from Novartis.

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To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.