Resilience is decreased in irritable bowel syndrome and associated with symptoms and cortisol response.

BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a stress-sensitive disorder associated with early adverse life events (EALs) and a dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Resilience is the ability to recover and adapt positively to stress but has not been well studied in IBS. The aims of this study are to compare resilience in IBS and healthy controls (HCs) and to assess its relationships with IBS symptom severity, quality of life (QOL), EALs, and HPA axis response.

METHODS: Two hundred fifty-six subjects (154 IBS, 102 HCs) completed questionnaires for resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale [CD-RISC] and Brief Resilience Scale [BRS]), IBS symptoms, IBS-QOL, and EALs. Ninety-six of these subjects had serial serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol levels to exogenous corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) and ACTH measured. The relationship between IBS status, resilience, and other variables of interest was assessed by regression analysis after adjusting for demographics and neuroticism, a predictor of resilience.

KEY RESULTS: Resilience was significantly lower in IBS compared to HCs (CD-RISC: 72.16±14.97 vs 77.32±12.73, P=.003; BRS: 3.29±0.87 vs 3.93±0.69, P<.001); however, only BRS was significant after controlling for neuroticism (P=.001). Lower BRS scores were associated with greater IBS symptom severity (P=.002), poorer IBS-QOL (P<.001), and a higher number of EALs (P=.01). There was a significant interaction between BRS resilience and IBS status for ACTH-stimulated cortisol response (P=.031); more resilient IBS subjects had lower cortisol response, and more resilient HCs had higher cortisol response.

CONCLUSIONS AND INFERENCES: Lower resilience is associated with IBS status, worse IBS symptom severity, lower IBS-QOL, greater EALs, and stress hyperresponsiveness.